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A Korean in Paris tells the story of Sang-ho (CHO Jae-hyun), whose wife was lost in Paris in the middle of their honeymoon trip. Within his brief absence, his wife was gone and nowhere to be found. Believing that she has been kidnapped, he visits the red light district in Paris every night, giving out her photos. A Korean in Paris, based on a shocking story, is the latest work of JEON Soo-il, whose impressive filmography includes Wind Echoing in My Being (1997), My Right to Ravage Myself (2005) and With a Girl of Black Soil (2007). It depicts JEON’s own internal journey of finding himself, through this man who wanders the back streets of Paris like a ghost, seeking for his wife.

 

 

It is based on what I actually heard from a friend of mine when I was studying in Paris. A newly wedded couple was looking around Pigalle Street, and within a very brief absence of the husband, the wife, who had been in a clothes shop, was gone. Then he found her again in Marseille after one year, which made me curious as to how he found her and what happened afterwards. So with my imagination, I made this story.

 

 

For A Korean in Paris, I deliberately chose this story of the newly wedded couple because I wanted to film again from a distant place. So far in my films, I have always framed the internal journey of a persona, trying to find himself. I hoped to put my characters in a situation where they see themselves more objectively, away from home. In this rationale, I went farther and farther, and this film is within the same vein.

 

 

When we were hunting for shooting locations, I tried to avoid those postcard-like places as much as possible. I wanted a non-Paris-like atmosphere. So I kept searching until I found the right locations. I really love space, which inspires me a lot. I write scenario moving one place to another. With a simple treatment plan, I develop the story and characters while visiting different locations. So whenever I write a story, I always keep in mind the relation between the character and space.

 

 

 

Since I often saw them during my 5 years as a student in Paris, it was not hard for me to observe and describe the homeless. I did visit their facilities a few times to see how they are operated. And I realized that space as I saw, in my own way. The red light district is also depicted similarly to Chinatown. All the actors, including extras, are properly recruited, which made this film cost a little more than my other films.

 

 

I tried to accentuate the feeling of distance and following them from a distance. I wanted to give the feeling that somebody is looking at them. So all the shootings are made by handheld, whether the camera was moving or not.

 

 

I wanted to depict how Sang-ho was missing Korea. When you are wandering around an unfamiliar city and come across a film poster from your country, I guess you feel something special. And in the poster, a boy is holding onto his mom’s breast. I guess those kind of images would have made him miss home. However, the theater was actually all empty, just like his head.

 

 

Sang-ho’s wandering first began as a tracking down of his wife, but it later changes into an internal journey of finding himself. With questions like who I am, and why my destiny has come this way, and so on, he has no choice but to think of the meaning of life itself. Now Sang-ho has to live a different life no matter whether he wants to or not. One of the critics referred to him as a Sisyphus being, which I agree to.

 

 

 

I had a lot of thoughts. First of all, Sang-ho must have been very much confused. He would have been nervous about the moment when he actually met her after two years of seeking, and he must have asked himself several times whether they could go back to the same relationship. Maybe he was even confused whether it was real or in a dream. I wanted to conclude the film in a way that takes all these into account.

 

 

Sang-ho is similar to the character that CHO played in Wind Echoing in My Being, in the sense that it deals with the process during which a man finds himself. Sang-ho is not an extended version of that character but rather a variation, so I thought this character would have more complex and full dimensions when played by the same actor.