Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors

Hong Sang-Soo has essentially made a career out of making the same film over and over again.  This is the third of his I've seen, the others being Woman is the Future of Man, and The Day He Arrives.  All three films deal with a film-maker, a group of three friends, and some sort of love triangle.  I feel like each movie has the same, or very similarly shot scenes, with virtually the same dialogue.

That being said, I still very much liked Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors.  Had it been the very first of his films I'd seen, I probably would've liked it that much more.  Though given that I've basically seen this film three times, it could only do so much.

The basic premise is an interesting one, and is something that I've never seen really done before, or done so well.  We follow the beginning of a relationship between mutual friends of a film director (no surprise).  For the first half of the film, we're seeing scenes as remembered by Young-Soo, the male lead.  We witness the good, the fights, etc as he courts her and they begin their relationship. 

In the second half the narrative shifts to Soo-Jung, the female, and we see the same scenes but as remembered by her.  Some of the scenes are very nearly the same, with slightly different nuances, some are identical, and some are vastly different. 

This take was actually quite refreshing once I realized why I was watching the same scene again, picking up on subtle, but key, differences.  I don't ever recall seeing this technique used in this fashion, the closest I can think of is Eternal Sunshine.  The differences in many events were generally subtle and didn't mean much, but it's interesting to take note of how people remember things differently.  Certain events, such as fights, or how the relationship began were quite different, which ties up loose strands as the relationship has its ups and downs.  I'm sure multiple viewings would only increase ones awareness of these.

Had I not seen two of Hong Sang-Soo's later films before this, I'm sure I would've liked it much more.  Though as the basic plot was virtually the same as his others, I grew a bit weary during the first half.  Once the narrative shifted it regained my attention and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

B