A Man and a Woman
男と女
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Two parents of children with special needs meet in Finland's snow and cannot bring the affair home.
Helsinki, in the depths of winter. Sang-min, a Korean woman who runs a clothing business, is seeing her severely autistic son off on a school camp and is sick with worry. Another parent from the same international school, Ki-hong, lends her a light and offers to drive her out near the camp. His daughter suffers from depression. On the way back a snowstorm closes the road and they spend the night at a lodge in separate rooms. The next morning, walking in the woods, they come upon an empty cabin and sleep together there. They part without telling each other their names.
Eight months later, back in Seoul, Ki-hong walks past the window of Sang-min's shop. Both are married. Her son's behaviour is no better at his new school, and she and her husband, Jae-seok, quarrel over what to do. Ki-hong's young wife, Moon-joo, is fragile and drinking, and after she attempts to take her own life she goes to stay with her parents; Ki-hong has become more her guardian than her husband. Sang-min and Ki-hong begin meeting in secret, in her office after hours, in hotels, on a trip away, hiding from their families, their friends and their colleagues.
Sang-min falls in love and decides to leave her marriage. On the night they are to meet, Ki-hong goes to the hotel and cannot bring himself to go in; the affair is over. Sang-min's marriage ends anyway.
Some time later, back in Finland, she sees Ki-hong through a restaurant window, laughing with his wife and daughter, and slips away. He sees her and starts after her in his car, then stops, looks back at his daughter, and drives on with his family, close to tears. Sang-min weeps in the back of a taxi, its Finnish driver kind to her.
Starring
Jeon Do-yeonas Sang-min
A businesswoman with a severely autistic son, who begins an affair in Finland that she cannot give up in Seoul.
Sang-min’s story
Sang-min runs a clothing business, and her life is arranged around her severely autistic son. In a Helsinki winter, sick with worry about his school camp, she lets another parent, Ki-hong, drive her out near it; snowed in, they sleep together the next morning in an empty cabin and part without exchanging names. Eight months later in Seoul he walks past her shop. Her son is no better at his new school, her marriage to Jae-seok has worn down into quarrels, and she begins meeting Ki-hong in secret. She falls in love and decides to leave her marriage; on the night they are to meet, he never comes in. Her marriage ends anyway. Later, in Finland, she sees him through a restaurant window laughing with his family, slips away, and weeps in a taxi.
Gong Yooas Ki-hong
A father caring for a depressed daughter and a fragile wife, who falls for Sang-min but cannot leave his family.
Ki-hong’s story
Ki-hong's daughter suffers from depression, and his young wife, Moon-joo, is fragile and drinking. In a Helsinki winter he lends a stranger a light and drives her towards her son's camp; after a night snowed in at a lodge, they sleep together in an empty cabin without exchanging names. Eight months later in Seoul he walks past her shop. By the time Moon-joo attempts to take her own life and goes to her parents, he has become more her guardian than her husband, and he meets Sang-min in secret. On the night she has decided to leave her marriage, he goes to their hotel and cannot bring himself to go in. Later, in Finland, he sees her at a restaurant window, follows in his car, then stops, looks back at his daughter and drives on, close to tears.
Park Byung-eunas Ahn Jae-seok
Sang-min's husband, who quarrels with her over how to raise their son and comes to suspect her.
Lee Mi-soas Moon-joo
Ki-hong's young wife, emotionally fragile and drinking, who attempts to take her own life.
Why it matters
A Man and a Woman is an affair film about exhaustion. Its lovers are not bored spouses but parents worn down by care: a mother whose son's autism has taken over her life, a father looking after a depressed daughter and a wife who has tried to take her own life. Lee Yoon-ki sets their first meeting in the silence of a Finnish winter, where nobody knows their names, and the rest in Seoul, where everyone has a claim on them. The film does not pretend that love answers that weight, or that giving it up is noble. The man goes back to his family, the woman's marriage ends, and both are left weeping in separate cars. What it asks is what happens to desire in people whose days are spent keeping someone else safe, and it offers no easy way out of the question.