Right Now, Wrong Then
正しい日 間違えた日
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
The same day between a film director and a painter, told twice with one small honesty changed.
Ham Chun-su, a well-known art-film director, arrives in Suwon a day before a screening of his work and has nothing to do. In a temple hall he notices a young woman, Yoon Hee-jeong, and speaks to her; she recognises his name and agrees to coffee. The film then tells the rest of the day twice.
In the first telling, he also flirts with Bo-ra, a festival staffer, and never makes the call he promises her. Hee-jeong says she once worked as a model and found it empty, and now paints. He goes to her studio and praises her work, then takes her for sushi and soju, tells her how beautiful she is and that he likes her as more than a friend, and fumbles in his pockets for a ring. At a gathering in a friend's café, Hee-jeong repeats what he said about her painting; an older friend, Soo-young, points out that he has said the same in many interviews, and that he chases women and is married. He admits it. Hee-jeong, drunk, lies down in another room and tells him to go. At home her mother scolds her. The next day, hungover, he is angry and erratic at the screening discussion, and leaves for Seoul.
In the second telling he is more honest. At her studio he tells her the painting seems made only for herself and that she should be braver; she is furious, then takes him up to the roof to show him where she lives. Over sushi he says he would love to marry her but has a wife and two children, and weeps; she wishes they had met earlier. He gives her a ring he found in the street, and she calls it their wedding ring. At the café he gets drunk and strips naked in front of her friends. Walking home, she hears about it from her amused mother on the phone and laughs. She kisses his cheek and promises to come back out; he waits outside, smoking, and gives up. The next day his talk goes well. Hee-jeong comes to see his film, he goes to her seat to say goodbye, and she tells him she will watch all his films from now on. Afterwards she walks off through the falling snow.
Starring
Jung Jae-youngas Ham Chun-su
A married art-film director in Suwon a day early for a screening, who spends the day courting a young painter.
Ham Chun-su’s story
Chun-su has a day to kill in Suwon before his screening, and in a temple hall he speaks to a painter, Hee-jeong. The film gives him the same day twice. The first time he flatters: he praises her paintings in words he has used in interviews, tells her over soju that he likes her, fumbles for a ring he does not have, and hides his marriage until her friends expose it. She sends him away, and next day, hung over, he rages at his screening discussion. The second time he tells her the painting needs courage, admits he has a wife and two children, weeps that he would marry her if he could, gives her a ring found in the street, and strips naked before her friends. Next day his talk goes well, and she comes to his film.
Kim Min-heeas Yoon Hee-jeong
A former model who now paints and lives with her mother in Suwon, drawn to the director's fame and attention.
Yoon Hee-jeong’s story
Hee-jeong gave up modelling, which felt empty, and paints in Suwon, living with her mother. When Chun-su, a famous director, speaks to her, she knows his name though not his films, and spends the day with him. In the first telling a friend points out that his praise is what he says in every interview and that he is married; she tells him to go and is scolded at home for being drunk. In the second, his criticism of her painting angers her, yet she shows him her home from the roof, wishes they had met sooner, and calls his found ring their wedding ring. She laughs about his stripping, kisses his cheek, promises to come back out, and does not. Next day, at his screening, she says she will watch all his films, and walks off into the snow.
Youn Yuh-jungas Hee-jeong's mother
Hee-jeong's mother, who scolds her for coming home drunk in one telling and laughs at the director's antics in the other.
Choi Hwa-jungas Bang Soo-young
An older friend of Hee-jeong's at the café gathering, whose questions in the first telling reveal the director's recycled praise and his marriage.
Go Ah-sungas Yeom Bo-ra
A young staff member at the Suwon festival; in the first telling the director flirts with her and promises to call, then never does.
Yoo Jun-sangas The moderator
A critic who moderates the post-screening discussion; in the first telling his question sets off the hung-over director's outburst.
Why it matters
Right Now, Wrong Then asks how much of a love affair depends on a single sentence. The same man meets the same woman on the same day, and the difference between a humiliation and a tender memory turns out to be whether he tells the truth: that he is married, that her painting is not yet brave, that he wants what he cannot have. Hong Sang-soo is unsparing about the director's vanity, his drinking and his lines, and no kinder about the flattery the young woman half wants. But the second telling suggests that honesty, however clumsy, even naked, is what lets two people keep something of each other. The film won the Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2015, with Best Actor for Jung Jae-young, and was the first of Hong's films with Kim Min-hee. It never says which day was right. It shows both.