Park Hae-il did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Det. Jang Hae-jun in Decision to Leave.
Decision to Leave is the captivating neo-noir of a detective dealing with the mysterious wife of a man who fell off a mountain.
Park Hae-il fills a classical role, mixed in with a whole lot of different ideas from this genre as crafted by Park Chan-wook. You have at the center very much the lead of so many noirs, as the straightlaced detective whose moral state is questioned by a femme fatale, a bit of very directly the detectives from both versions of Insomnia, and of course a strong dose of Jimmy Stewart from Vertigo. We open the film fittingly then with Park as the upright detective, against his less-so partner Soo-wan, as they go about their duties in the police department. Park's performance leans into the strait lace in the way of just a very precise man as he goes about his initial duties. He speaks to Soo-wan with an innate kind of authority as he speaks about their ongoing investigation of a known murder. That is wrapped around the idea of the character being constantly in a state of insomnia. Park makes this a fundamental aspect of his performance, as there is just some pressure within him that speaks to this at all times. He succeeds importantly in making it a given in always seeming at least slightly tired in these opening scenes, and showing a man where there is just a cloud over him. He doesn't overdo it, doesn't make it too severe, but rather creates the quiet sense of the man's burdens in his job wrapped within this state.
We see his theoretical solace with his wife Jung-an (Lee Jung-hyun), a nuclear power plant worker who lives away from the big city, where Jang visits only on the weekends. This relationship is interesting because it isn't quite the obvious bad relationship you might see in a lesser version of this story. Rather Jung-an is perfectly loving towards Jang in an often very flirtatious way even if in a slightly overbearing way in which she kind of diagnoses him and makes regular check-ins regarding the state of their relationship. Park doesn't present Jang's manner in this relationship as anything that is not pure in the stance of just trying to love Jung-an back as much as he can, as he makes always make dinner for them and certainly frequently attentively listens to her. Park doesn't present as something that is actively weighing on him in any way, however, what Park manages to do with his performance is show the way this relationship is very much a passive one for Jang. He shows that Jang is very much listening to his wife, but in a way too often just listening to the point she is always the one talking without really the natural give and take you might expect. Park presents the way Jang very much differs just into a state of malaise, not of one that seems actively painful, but at the same time, there is not the sense of comfort or intrigue in it either. They are together, but it isn't a sense of a striking connection by any means.
What Park effectively does between the at-home scenes and his working scenes is show the contrast between the two sides of Jang and in a way show that at home Jang is very different, maybe too different, from his existence at work. Because at work, even with the sense of the man's insomnia, Park shows a man much more active and assured in his manner. He presents Jang as very much a detective with conviction as he goes about his task, and creates the right striking presence of someone with that innate drive within his profession. When he discovers a man who has died falling off a mountain even, Jang investigates this by going up the mountain the same way, and in presenting this Park's performance is very much of this sense of calculation and care to his approach as an investigator. Park does what is really essential for any great portrayal of a detective whom we are following, which is to bring the audience into his sense of investigative thinking, so we are with the detective rather than just merely watching him. Park achieves is this in any scene where Jang and his partner are investigating it is never just simple reaction shots from him, rather he consistently creates the potent sense of Jang's mind taking the various clues in and trying to decipher what it is that is going on at this crime scene. He manages within his performance to create the appropriate sense of the investigative mind that defines who detective Jang is.
The key complication of the film is the death of the man which leads Jang and his partner to look at his much younger wife, also a Chinese immigrant, Song Seo-rae (Tang Wei). And this is the central relationship within the film which develops itself in very unexpected ways throughout the film. In the beginning, she is just a suspect, however, Park's performance effectively plants the seeds right away just in his reactions to seeing Seo-rae where there is this subtle sense of captivation in her. It could be mistaken for just the suspicion of a detective but soon it is clear more than that. We see this initially through the contrasting opinions of the case between the more seasoned and professional Jang, against his fairly slobbish partner Soo-wan (Go Kyung-pyo), who may be a bit of a slob however his suspicions about Seo-rae do make some good points. Park's performance is terrific in being able to find the nuance in this state of denial in approaching it as such. For example denies her lack of obvious grief with a bit of a poetic aside, which Park delivers with sincerity but sincerity that alludes to fascination. When asking her to do anything to get more information for the investigation, Park speaks every word with kindness, perhaps too much kindness, and an obviously kind of strict sort of patience.
The development of the relationship between the two is quite fascinating because it isn't initially this standard sort of chemistry between the two. Rather initially it is of the flirtation between the surface. Such as when Park takes a more intimate photo of injuries she has sustained from her husband. Park initially falls into this expected professional routine of calling in a policewoman to handle the photo and is perfectly awkward in trying to avoid the more overt sexual nature of the moment. When Seo-rae balks at the suggestion, Park's reaction denotes this internalized intrigue in the act and the growth of an essential fascination with her even while technically going about his duty. And what we see Park cultivate in the successive scenes of further investigation, prodded on by Soo-wan who thinks Jang is smitten with the woman, we see in Park's performance a particularly potent combination in the act of observation. It is great to work as performed because Park is able to convey still Park's attempt to maintain his professional distance, however, when observing her there is this combination of a building intensity of obsession and this strange kind of comfort when observing her. Park doesn't present it as an obvious lust but rather the man experiencing some notions that he simply doesn't get from seeing his wife, and Parks shows Jang being pulled into woman's allure.
Importantly in this progression towards obsession, we do see Jang still very much the professional in another seemingly more straightforward murder investigation where we see him take down one of the men with a strict sense of determination and really aliveness within the act. We see him further admonish Soo-wan less than deft hand at faulty interrogation, and Park is great in his delivery of the correcting description with a specific sense of duty within it. His eyes are disappointed towards Soo-wan as a teacher disappointed in a student going in the wrong direction. In all of this, we see Jang as the investigator a man in his wheelhouse who is great at his job. And with Seo-rae we see the meeting of the world of the potentially romantic with this world. And the interaction between the two really is about all the little moments of interaction that build towards something more substantial. That is in a suggestive glance, but also just the way the two eat a sushi meal together. I love the performance of Wei and Park in this scene because it isn't about going big in any kind of lust in that moment, rather the sense of this strict sort of pleasant comfort between the two in what is a normal act, made less so by circumstance but not by the process in which we see the two go about it.
Seo-rae ends up becoming more than suspect, not as an obvious sort of lust-filled interest, but rather a genuine romantic interest as the two progress. As the two connect not based on overt sexuality but rather a connection of personal interest. And the two's chemistry is unusual because the development is more gradual almost as we see them through the first few dates of a relationship where both parties are a little bit reserved. Take just the moment when Park takes in their mutual interest in the sea, where Jang doesn't hold on to it long just long enough to appreciate it. Then when she visits his apartment, providing guidance on a murder investigation, the sheer energy in the expression of the act we see Park as a new man in some respects. When he cooks for her there is so much spirit to it, far less than a domestic chore. When she provides some ASMR to help get him to sleep, Park expresses the purest form of a man finding true relaxation in her lullaby of sorts. The performances of both Wei and Park in their sort of "date" scene are amazing to work because each, especially Park who shows Jang isn't trying to get anything extra out of it other than be with her, put so little weight in the scene. Rather if you took the scene in isolation it could nearly be just a wonderful full date between the two, as at the moment they no longer feel like detective and suspect but something far more.
And for the rest of the review to go on a spoiler alert is essential to dive into the intricacies of it, as both murder investigations come to a head. The first is the street gangster which just deserves mention for Park's performance which is so different from the rest of his performance but it wholly works at the moment. When he has the criminal dead to rights but is still threatened with a weapon, Jang distracts him by noting his romantic concerns, and Park shifts his delivery wholly to something kind of overtly romantic and of a different man from Jang. As almost a comic moment that wholly works though as we see it as a play, even if there seems some genuine emotion in it, as Jang basically says "psyche" and shoots the man to drop him quickly. The other is the investigation of Seo-rae, which is first closed as a suicide, however by chance further evidence proves that she in fact did kill her husband, while also destroying key evidence seemingly having manipulated Jang to help her do this. Park is outstanding in the confrontation scene because of how bluntly he expresses he presents the feeling of betrayal. The betrayal though is wrapped not in hate but actually in a sense of love in it. Park's delivery of Jang's frustration isn't as negatively inclined as it probably should be rather he effectively shows the profound effect Seo-rae has had on him by just how lost he is in every word. Park shows a man who unfortunately is still obsessed by Seo-rae and broken for it.
To escape it all Jang moves to a smaller city with his wife, where the relationship really is even less than it was before, though again I appreciate that Park doesn't overplay this discontent. Rather he shows this sense of resignation as she continues to make all sorts of suggestions for him and we see a man just going through the motions, and indeed perhaps dying a bit inside at every turn. Unfortunately, things only get more complicated when Seo-rae appears with a new husband and the couple meet each other at a fish market. This is low-key one of Park's best scenes because he is able to say so much really in every moment of it. This is from his subdued yet still the extremely potent reaction to seeing Seo-rae and embodies still his fascination with her, the surprise of seeing her, and the desperate frustration within himself associated with her. My favorite aspect is Park's performance as a reflection to see how he is with his wife around others. Where he is nearly a husk who just directly repeats anything she particularly would like to hear from him, without any real passion but just the slightest hint of a husbandly duty that propels him through it. Park in the moment though shows the sorry state of Jang in the moment who just is completely lost in this relationship and in this city at this point.
Matter quickly get more complicated as Seo-rae's new husband is also found dead. Park is amazing in the scene of the investigation in being just completely fed up with her at first, and just exuding this pent-up frustration in thinking she's purposefully played him again. Where now Jang was slow peddling the suspicion towards her, Park now exuding a determined suspicion since really he does know better, despite his small-time new partner, who also hero-worships him, wanted to take Seo-rae at her word not knowing any better. This investigation to doesn't go the expected way, and Park is incredible in embodying the immediate switches, and the emotional swings of Jang throughout this sequence. Where his performance is outstanding is the fact that he never gets lost for a moment, nor does one moment seem too sudden to the next. As his determination changes to release his old fascination with Seo-rae again, as she insists there was genuine feeling between them. Park's reaction in the scene is great because he doesn't show himself going to their old state, even when kissing her, in that he is almost in this state of arrested emotional development in being just wholly lost on how exactly to react as his eyes denote the feelings for her are unquestionably strong yet still is the state of frustration over the past betrayal.
Jang through this still trying to investigate properly, where he finds Seo-rae didn't kill her husband but did kill someone else to lead to her husband's death. In each revelation Park now shows the building towards the climax of the film, as every bit of the sheer complication of this relationship is in Park's increasingly frantic and really broken state, which only exacerbates things his wife leaves him based on her suspicions of an affair. Park shows the man as no longer able to really hold himself together through his duties as a detective, even as all of it leads to the revelation that Seo-rae is a murderer, but also did love him. Leading to a final scene of Jang desperately trying to find her, unbeknownst to him she has already set up her suicide. Park is astonishing in this scene because he shows all of it come out in this moment, and is this earned release of everything Jang has been holding out. Park now shows Jang wearing his desperation, his obsession for her, his love for her but also the tragedy of losing her in this moment. Park makes Jang this complete mess and is heartbreaking in showing the man truly just lost both in terms of finding her and completely emotionally as he searches for the woman who broke his very existence. This is a masterful performance by Park Hae-il, because he never gets lost in the narrative even when the character technically often is. He brings us so tangibly into this man's state, through every facet of his investigation but also more importantly his obsession.
