Love Life
LOVE LIFE
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
After a child's death a woman's deaf ex-husband returns; a marriage examined in sign and silence.
Taeko Osawa has been married to Jiro for almost a year. They live on a housing estate with Keita, her young son from her first marriage; Jiro's parents live in the block opposite. Jiro's father, Makoto, has never accepted a daughter-in-law who is divorced with a child, and at a party for his birthday and Keita's win in an Othello tournament he calls her second-hand, then apologises. Among the colleagues from Jiro's welfare office who come to help is Yamazaki, a woman Taeko does not know. While the adults sing karaoke, Keita slips in the bathroom, hits his head and falls into the full bath. He dies.
Taeko blames herself for leaving the water in. At the funeral a homeless man walks up, slaps her, then beats his own face: Park, Keita's father, a deaf Korean man who vanished years ago. She hands him the passport and letter his family left with her and says goodbye, but when he applies for welfare she is the one who can sign with him, and Jiro, uneasy, insists she take his case. With their help Park finds work, and when Jiro's parents move away Taeko lets him stay in their empty flat. Jiro visits Yamazaki, his girlfriend before Taeko, who confesses she had wished them unhappiness, and he kisses her. Back at home he sees Taeko and Park together on the balcony.
A letter says Park's father in Korea is dying, and Park asks for money to go. As Jiro drives them to the ferry, Taeko gets out: Park cannot manage without her, she says, and she sails with him. In Korea Park admits his father is not dying. The letter was an invitation to the wedding of his son by another wife; after Keita's death he wanted to see his other son. At the open-air reception the groom tells Taeko he is glad his father came. Rain falls, the guests run inside, and Taeko is left standing alone, soaked.
She comes home to the stray cat Park found, and to Jiro. He asks what she will do now. She does not know. He suggests a walk. First she asks him to look her in the eye. Then she says, "Let's go," and they walk out across the grounds side by side.
Starring
Fumino Kimuraas Taeko Osawa
A remarried mother working at a city advice centre, whose life breaks open when her son dies and his father reappears.
Taeko Osawa’s story
When Keita drowns in the bath during a family party, Taeko blames herself for leaving the water in. At the funeral Park, the husband who vanished years ago, slaps her. She says goodbye to him in the park, then cannot leave him be: she signs for him at the welfare office, moves him into her in-laws' empty flat, and asks him to stay near while she uses the bath she has avoided since Keita died. When a letter says his father is dying, she gets out of Jiro's car on the way to the ferry and sails with Park. In Korea he admits the lie: it is his other son's wedding. Rain empties the reception and leaves her alone, soaked. At home she asks Jiro to look her in the eye, then says, 'Let's go.'
Kento Nagayamaas Jiro Osawa
Taeko's second husband, a kind and correct welfare officer at the city office, who cannot reach her in her grief.
Jiro Osawa’s story
Jiro organises a surprise with his welfare-office colleagues for his father's birthday; among them is Yamazaki, the colleague he left for Taeko. After Keita's death he tells Taeko it was not her fault, and insists she take Park's welfare case. On the day he drives his parents to their new home, he calls on Yamazaki, who confesses she wished them unhappiness; he kisses her, and she tells him he never looks people in the eye at times like this. Seeing Taeko and Park together on a balcony, he kisses his wife in front of Park, and she pushes him away. When Taeko gets out of his car on the way to the ferry, he cannot call her back. On her return he asks what she will do now, and she asks him first to look her in the eye.
Atom Sunadaas Park Shinji
Taeko's first husband and Keita's father, a deaf Korean man who vanished years ago and returns homeless.
Park Shinji’s story
Park reads of Keita's death in a newspaper and comes to the funeral, where he slaps Taeko and then beats his own face. He is sleeping rough in a park. Taeko returns the papers his family left with her, but when he applies for welfare she alone can sign with him, and he is soon in work and living in her in-laws' empty flat. When the stray cat he brought home escapes and Jiro finds it, Park tells him the cat has chosen him. Saying a letter reports his father dying in Korea, he borrows the fare, and Taeko sails with him. There he admits the lie: it is the wedding of his son by another wife, a son he wanted to see after Keita's death. The son is glad he came, and Taeko goes home without him.
Hirona Yamazakias Risa Yamazaki
Jiro's colleague and former girlfriend, still hurt that he left her for Taeko.
Tomorowo Taguchias Makoto Osawa
Jiro's father, who has never accepted a divorced daughter-in-law with a child.
Why it matters
Love Life asks what holds people together once the thing that joined them is gone. Taeko's son dies in an instant, during a party, and the film follows how grief rearranges a marriage: the husband who comforts her correctly and cannot reach her, and the first husband who slaps her at the funeral and whose pain she recognises as her own. It is also about language and who shares it. Taeko can sign with Park in Korean Sign Language, and a good deal of the story passes between them where Jiro cannot follow. Without speeches it touches a father-in-law's contempt for a divorced mother, homelessness and welfare, and how easily a person who depends on someone can lie to them. Inspired by Akiko Yano's 1991 song, it competed at the Venice Film Festival in 2022. It ends on a walk rather than an answer.