Written by: Kiara Korten
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of watching Celine Song’s debut film Past Lives. Past lives follows Nora and Hae Sung, childhood friends separated when Nora’s family emigrated from South Korea, as they reconnect decades later and confront the emotional residue of a bond that never fully dissolved.
One of the ideas that struck me most in the film was the concept of inyeon. Inyeon is introduced as a Korean Buddhist idea describing the predestined connection between individuals; threads of fate spun across multiple lifetimes. It suggests that relationships don’t begin in the moment we meet someone; they are continuations of encounters from long before. Even the smallest interactions—brushing past someone, sitting beside the—create a thread of inyeon. When two people meet again and again across lives, those threads strengthen into a bond. Nora explains it simply: it’s the fate that brings two people together, over and over.
Part of the film’s power comes from how modern its love story feels. These relationships unfold in a world shaped by migration, distance, technology, and the freedom—and burden—of choice. That makes its emotional landscape contemporary even as it draws on timeless themes. A distinctly modern element is the film’s refusal to villainize Arthur, Nora’s husband, or turn the story into a conventional love triangle. Instead, it acknowledges that multiple forms of love can coexist (romantic, nostalgic, companionate) and that choosing one does not invalidate the others.
But I think even more than the face value love story, Nora’s journey is not about choosing between two men but about understanding the different versions of herself that each represents: the Korean girl she once was and the American woman she has become.
What makes Past Lives unforgettable is not its plot but its emotional truth. It captures the bittersweet reality that we are shaped by the people we love, even when we don’t end up with them. It’s a film about longing without regret, love without possession, and connection without resolution.
Featured Image Caption: A snapshot of a tender moment in Celine Song’s Past Lives.
