박찬욱의 <헤어질 결심>에 나타난 영화의 자기반영성

Abstract

Director Park Chan-wook’s <Decision to Leave> is a hybrid narrative that connects a love story to a mystery story. The symmetrical structure of the story, divided into parts 1 and 2, implies the relationship between truth and lies. Seorae is the one who leads the change in the story. Seorae transforms like a character in different movie genres and quotes movie lines as if they were her own words, which shows how she is a metaphor for movies. There are self-reflective forms in this film. The screen is expressed through a point of view where the subject of the gaze is unclear. The sound of breathing, the voice on the phone, and the sound recorded on the phone are devices that make the audience identify with Hae-jun’s emotions. The audience views an imaginary image in which Hae-jun’s desire is projected; it is an image like a movie within a movie. Hae-jun, who seeks the hidden truth, is a person who searches and analyzes time. Hae-jun’s gaze connects the present and the past in one frame. He makes the strata of time like a frame within a frame, or a movie within a movie. <Decision to Leave> is a film that depicts director Park Chan-wook’s cinematic aesthetics and art. Ambiguity is the key to understanding this film. Like a “phone thrown into the depths of the sea”, a great movie cannot be interpreted as an explanation or as a single truth. A movie that resonates with the audience and connects with many viewers is like the truth hidden in the sea. <Decision to Leave> is a movie about cinema, the screen, and film as it is defined by its audience.