On the Beach at Night Alone

How film can actually reflect real life; in South Korea gossip magazines were full of stories of an alleged secret love affair between director Hong Sang-soo and the more-than-20-years-younger actress Kim Min-hee. The couple finally confirmed the rumour at the Berlin Film Festival, where they were for the premiere of On the Beach at Night Alone, Hong's new film with Kim as the lead actress. Piquant side note: the film tells the very same story.

Young-hee (Min-hee), a young actress, has an affair with an older, married director. It causes so much commotion in the press that she decides to go abroad and stay in a strange city for a spell: Hamburg. Here she discusses her unhappy love life with her friend and others, wondering if he misses her as much as she him, what she wants from love, what she wants in life. After several months she returns to her home country, her questions still unanswered.