During the Venice Film Festival 2026 we spoke with director Lee Chang-dong and actors Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu on the film Possible Love, presented here in Competition at the Festival. A conversation that delves into the film’s thematic layers and the creative approaches behind its storytelling, offering insights into the director’s vision and the actors’ interpretations.
The interview
Lee Chang-dong discusses the thematic focus of Possible Love, emphasizing the significance of looking and of the gaze in the film. He explains how the film explores the conflict between labor and capital through the lens of documentary filmmaking, reflecting on how the camera becomes a tool to examine desire, envy, and societal judgment.
Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu, highlighted the contrast between the desires of their characters to find love and the awareness of social exploitation. Jeon Do-yeon character seeks to heal her family’s wounds and displays curiosity rather than desire towards the other class. Sul Kyung-gu character, instead, experiences rejection and inner pain, which he channels into his relationship with the documentary filmmaker. Both actors interpret their roles as struggles against societal power dynamics, embodying the tension between attraction and exploitation, and illustrating how personal and social conflicts intertwine in the film Possible Love.
Plot
Possible Love follows the intertwined relationship of two married couples facing different paths and
hidden desires. Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon) lives quietly with her laid-off husband Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu)
and their young son Cheol until a funeral brings them into the orbit of Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong), a
documentary filmmaker chronicling laid-off workers, and her husband Sang-woo (Zo In-sung) — a
couple whose affluent lifestyle stands in sharp contrast to their own. When Mi-ok agrees to be filmed,
she grows close to Ye-ji, and finds herself uneasily drawn to the unreadable Sang-woo. As their worlds
collide, fractures begin to appear in their daily existence. Marking his first release in eight years, highly
acclaimed director Lee Chang-dong (Burning, Poetry, Secret Sunshine) brings his signature nuance to
Possible Love, capturing shifting emotions, conflicts, and contrasting outlooks that shape these
relationships.