Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors

We know from his The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well (shown in Rotterdam in 1997) and its follow-up The Power of Kangwon Province that Hong Sang-Soo is the reigning poet laureate of the ins, outs and self-deceptions of contemporary relationships, not to mention the tricks and traps of storytelling. This third feature is his funny valentine to present-day mating rituals, centred on the day when the personable, 24-year-old video production assistant Soo-Jung steels herself to surrender her virginity to gallery owner Jae-Hoon.The film is in five chapters, the first, third and fifth of which chart the fateful day: Jae-Hoon waits impatiently in a Seoul hotel room, Soo-Jung hesistates but finally agrees to join him, only to get stuck in a stalled cable-car. The longer second and fourth chapters reprise the beginnings and development of their relationship – first from his point-of-view, then from hers. They agree that they were introduced by Soo-Jung’s amorous (but married) boss Young-Soo, but very little else tallies. In the space between their divergent memories and impressions, Hong brilliantly reinvents the romantic comedy in Cubist terms. (Tony Rayns)