Why we picked it – An emotional and absorbing drama about adoption which grapples with the forces of nature and nurture.
Synopsis – Freddie, a young French woman adopted from Korea as a baby, returns to Seoul, apparently on a whim. She looks Korean, but is brash and free-spirited. When she tries to contact her birth parents through the adoption agency, her father responds, but he is smothering; her mother does not want to know. The film could have ended there, but there are three further episodes: one, three, and five years later, as Freddie grows in maturity, but is still coming to terms with who she is.
The film – The director Davy Chou was brought up in France as the son of immigrants from Cambodia. The genesis of the film is the story of his friend, Laure Badufle, similarly born in South Korea and adopted by French parents at a time when there many such adoptions, who returned to meet her birth family. Chou researched Korean culture and adoption with Badufle, who is a co-writer, and other adoptees. Ji-Min Park, who plays Freddie, is a sculptor who had never acted before. She helped develop the character of Freddie with Chou, challenging his original ideas about how a young French woman might respond to Korea’s highly patriarchal society. Vivid colours and a vibrant score buoy the film along as it twists and turns throughout Freddie’s life.
Director: Davy Chou; Writer: Davy Chou, Laure Badufle; Cinematography: Thomas Favel; Korea/France 2023 115 mins, 15.