The director of The Handmaiden and Oldboy returns with a noirish labyrinthine thriller, where nothing is as it seems.
Insomniac cop Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) is investigating what seems like the open and shut case of a climber who died in an accident. Meeting with the widow of the deceased, he soon finds himself becoming fascinated by her. But is Seo-rae (Tang Wei) all she appears? Moreover, what does she have to gain from her husband’s death? As Hae-joon is drawn inexorably into Seo-rae’s world, he finds the truth an increasingly difficult thing to ascertain.
Director Park is a master of the psychological thriller; his films dazzle with a Hitchcockian flair and revel in plot machinations that have more layers than a Russian doll. Decision to Leave is less visceral than his previous work, instead conjuring up a moody tone that befits the intrigue of the increasingly complex relationship between this upstanding detective and a woman whose secrets lie beneath a veneer of respectability.
