The World of Love: "Don't you know the rules, Joo-in?"
At the 41st Warsaw Film Festival, two films that were successful in the International Competition showed a remarkable opposite development. The International Competition Jury’s Grand Prix went to the Dutch-Austrian-Belgian co-production Our Girls (Voor de meisjes) by Mike van Diem. He transposed Lykele Muus’ Dutch novel We doen wat we kunnen to the Tyrolean Alps, which have always attracted tourists from the geographically flat Benelux countries. Two wealthy Dutch families have shared an architecturally challenging summer house in Tyrol for years. Their friendship is put to an existential test when their teenage daughters are involved in a quad accident with a local youngster. The consistently thrilling fate drama with satirical elements forces us to rethink our own moral standards, judged the jury chaired by Danish director Lone Scherfig. Mike van Diem received the Best Foreign-Language Oscar for his debut film, an adaptation of the novel Character (Karakter) by Dutch modernist Ferdinand Bordewijk, in 1997. The Warsaw award for his current work is likely not to be the last.
Our Girls presents an orderly European world of prosperity, which is disrupted by an accident with eccentric, explosive force, destroying one of the two families. In contrast, in the FIPRESCI Award-winning film The World of Love (Segyeui Joo-in) a concentric force is at work for 119 minutes. In the chaos that surrounds the protagonist Joo-in from the beginning, this force unexpectedly and through many detours finally develops a healing and stabilizing effect.
Born in Seoul in 1982, director and screenwriter Yoon Ga-eun graduated from Korea National University of Arts after studying history and theology. The World of Love is her third feature film. With large, puzzled eyes and a mocking to defiant mouth, 23-year-old theatre actress Seo Soo-bin gives a convincing screen debut as 17-year-old high school student Joo-in.
Yoon Ga-eun’s previous feature films, the multiple award-winning The World of Us (Woorideul) (2016) and The House of Us (Woorijip) (2019), also dealt with the worlds of young people. Yoon Ga-eun had already won the Grand Prix at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in 2012 and the Crystal Bear in the Generation Kplus section at the Berlinale in 2014 for her short films Guest (Son-nim) and Sprout (Kongnamool) (with a seven-year-old lead actress). On this occasion, she explained her artistic attitude in an interview: “All kinds of things happen throughout life and I can find bits and pieces of them in everyday life. I like it. My films are about stories someone experiences in everyday life when something unexpected occurs.”
“Unexpected” is no expression at all for the actions of the high school student Joo-in, which contrast with her conventional black-and-white uniform with pleated skirt. Her impulsiveness keeps not only her classmates and family, but also the viewers on the edge from the first scene on. The film begins with a passionate kiss scene in the classroom, where Joo-in’s partner seems to be slightly overwhelmed. This young girl changes her boyfriends at will. When someone gets too close, the Taekwondo athlete fends them off quickly and skillfully. However, in her unconditional desire to defend herself, Joo-in often shoots over the target and disregards social rules. This gradually turns her into the – seemingly always cheerful and carefree – outsider.
“Don’t you know the rules, Joo-in?” she is asked during a de-cluttering event, to which she spontaneously brings her new boyfriend without permission. The World of Love shows a Seoul of small people struggling to survive daily. Joo-in’s friendly-melancholic mother runs a kindergarten, but is distracted by constant stomach aches, which doesn’t stop her from secretly drinking. The director casted Jang Hye-jin, a well-known actress in Korea (Parasites), in this role. The injury on the neck of a girl from the kindergarten remains unnoticed for a long time. The fantastic young actress appears as a mirror image of Joo-in who has apparently experienced violence too.
This coming-of-age drama is also a portrait of generations: Joo-in’s father fled to the countryside because the family became too much for him. He leaves his daughter’s text messages unanswered, and he’s not interested in his younger son’s magic show. Only Joo-in’s grandmother seems to be emotionally stable due to her Buddhist faith. The contrast between loud and quiet, noise in the classroom and calm in the temple, is characteristic of Yoon Ga-eun’s staging.
The World of Love reflects the theme of violence in a surprising and multifaceted way. When a classmate is collecting signatures for a petition against the return of a convicted rapist, Joo-in thinks the phrase “deep wounds that never heal” regarding the victims is too dramatic. As a rape victim, she knows what she’s talking about, she tells the stunned classmates. But is that true?
In this tableau of a thousand colourful details, this one question lingers as a concern. With the words “I don’t really get you. You keep blowing hot and cold,” Joo-in’s pensive boyfriend breaks up with her after she becomes physically aggressive again. He articulates the essence of this outstanding film: self-confidence and love grow through temperature fluctuations and resistance.
Katrin Hillgruber
FIPRESCI 2025