‘Possible Love’ Cast Sobs as Lee Chang-dong’s Epic Embraced at Venice With 6-Minute Standing Ovation

Acclaimed South Korean director Lee Chang-dong returned after 24 years to the Venice Film Festival, where he was warmly embraced with a six-minute standing ovation for his sweeping romantic drama “Possible Love.”

Directed by Lee and co-written by Oh Jung-mi, “Possible Love” follows the intertwined lives of two married couples — a laid-off factory worker and his spouse, and a wealthy husband and wife who are making a documentary about the injustices facing factory workers — whose lives intersect after a funeral. A meditation on social class and desire, the movie brings together familiar faces from the director’s prior work, including Jeon Do-yeon (“Secret Sunshine”) and Sul Kyung-gu (“Peppermint Candy”), as well as new collaborators in Zo In-sung (“Escape From Mogadishu”) and Cho Yeo-jeong (of “Parasite” fame).

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As the credits rolled and the lights came up in the Sala Grande theater, the cast started to sob and wiped away tears with napkins. Jeon, Sul, Zo and Cho took turns hugging each other, enthusiastically clapping and giggling at their emotional response to the audience’s enthusiasm for the film. Oh, too, was crying as she basked in the rapturous applause. The claps and cheers would have possibly continued a lot longer, but at the six-minute mark, the actors and director were guided toward the exit and headed out of the Palazzo del Cinema. A major theme of “Possible Love” is the 10th commandment, “thou shalt not covet,” so perhaps the cast and filmmakers were satisfied by the reaction and didn’t need a lengthier standing ovation.

“Possible Love” marks Lee’s first time in competition at Venice in nearly a quarter-century, following his Silver Lion win for “Oasis” in 2002. This is the director’s first feature film in eight years, since 2018’s psychological thriller “Burning.” His other major works include “Green Fish,” “Peppermint Candy,” “Secret Sunshine” and “Poetry.”

“I’m not the type of filmmaker who can make movies easily,” Lee said previously of the lengthy gap between projects. “Before I begin a film, I must be certain of what it means — to me, to the audience, and to cinema itself. That is why ‘Possible Love’ took so long to make.”  

Netflix is releasing “Possible Love,” which is making stops at Toronto and New York film festivals ahead of its theatrical rollout. The movie opens on the big screen in the U.S. on Oct. 23 before streaming globally on Nov. 6. Netflix opened this year’s Venice Film Festival with director Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” an explosive drama about the rise of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid empire.

Prior to the premiere of “Possible Love,” Lee mused on the film’s title, saying “it asks a question: what is love that is possible?”

“When we think about a love story, usually the most typical love story we think about is love that cannot come true,” Lee told Variety. “So to simply put it, you could say that all of these love stories are called impossible love.”