HONG SANG-SOO | SOUTH KOREA | 2024 | 90 MIN | KOREAN, FRENCH, ENGLISH
Iris (played pitch-perfectly by the indelible Isabelle Huppert) is a quietly eccentric woman who finds herself searching for meaning, connection, and money in South Korea. When she’s not wandering the public parks of Seoul playing her recorder poorly, Iris is attempting to teach French to her two private clients using unorthodox methods while sipping the fizzy white South Korean alcoholic beverage makgeolli, bottle by bottle. Low on funds and lost on purpose, Iris shares a living space with a much younger man that she has developed a unique connection with, much to the chagrin of his mother. Directed by the notoriously wistful auteur Hong Sang-soo (In Our Day, PFF32), A Traveler’s Needs is an expertly crafted character study of an unanchored woman adrift in the sea of a land foreign to her. Vignettes of interaction coupled with endearing comedy build an intimately lived-in portrait with Huppert’s stunningly opaque and intriguing performance at its heart.
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Lee Hye-young, Kwon Hae-hyo, Cho Yun-hee
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