This blog post examines why ‘Our Sunhi’ concludes not with Sunhi’s inner world, but through the gaze of the men pursuing her, and explores the meaning this structure conveys.
It Began with Sunhi, Yet Only the Men Remain
Just as the title of the film 『Our Sunhi』 suggests, the protagonist Sunhi appears at the very beginning of the movie. When first hearing the title, the word ‘our’ naturally brings to mind the term ‘our’ as it is commonly used in everyday language in this country – like ‘our dad’, ‘our mom’, ‘our family’. It’s not ‘my dad’, ‘my mom’, or ‘my family’, but ‘our’. Yet no one uses it to mean ‘our dad’, ‘our mom’, or ‘our family’. This is precisely where the subtlety of the film’s title ‘Our Sunhi’ reveals itself. Look at the film’s English title. Isn’t it 「Our Sunhi」? It’s clear right from the title. Sunhee isn’t anyone’s Sunhee; she is our Sunhee.
It begins with Sunhee and ends with Sunhee’s men
Watching the film, the first character to appear is Sunhee, and the last figures remaining on screen are three men—the men who pursued her. Sunhi is clearly the protagonist, yet the ones who remain at the end are Sunhi’s men. The film concludes with the audience understanding only the men’s psychology, never truly grasping Sunhi’s inner thoughts. How often does a film, which typically follows the protagonist’s perspective and psychology, end without the audience truly understanding the protagonist? Ultimately, one realizes this film isn’t ‘Seon-hee’s’ story, but rather the story of the men pursuing ‘Seon-hee’. While various events occur, the central perspective observing these events isn’t ‘Seon-hee’s’, but rather Mun-soo’s, Jae-hak’s, and Professor Choi’s. Based on this arrangement of perspectives, the film is broadly divided into four sequences.
The day Seonhee met Sang-woo, then Professor Choi, Moon-soo, and Jae-hak
The first sequence begins with Seonhee reappearing before the three men after her long period of absence. She meets Professor Choi and Moon-soo in turn (we’ll discuss Sang-woo shortly), and though she doesn’t meet him directly, Jae-hak also appears in this first sequence. Seon-hee initiates this sequence, while Moon-soo and Jae-hak remain at its conclusion. This first sequence is crucial because it reveals Seon-hee’s purpose for re-emerging into the world and introduces those who will be thrown into confusion by her eventual, unhurried disappearance after achieving that goal.
Within this first sequence, Moon-soo is the character whose relationship with Seon-hee is most prominent. Strictly speaking, it could be called Munsu’s sequence. We cannot know how Seonhee feels about Munsu. However, the scenes where she desperately calls out to Munsu upon seeing him walking alongside a female junior, and where she curses the bar part-timer for being unlucky after seeing them treat Munsu kindly, leave clear traces of emotion. If this is a kind of ‘jealousy,’ wouldn’t it look like this? Her feelings are expressed more vividly through the movement of her gaze, the camera’s motion, and her attitudes toward Munsu than through a hundred lines of dialogue directly stating, ‘I feel jealous of you.’
Seonhee had been paying attention to the part-timer since she first entered the bar. The camera slowly zooms out from Seonhee’s hand looking at the menu, but her interest wasn’t in the menu.
She had no intention of ordering chicken. After Seonhee orders beer, the camera doesn’t linger on her but follows the part-timer. Though the part-timer isn’t doing anything special, the camera observes him intently. Returning to Seonhee and stopping, the camera ultimately serves as a device substituting for Seonhee’s gaze.
Interestingly, unlike Sun-hee, who clearly focuses her gaze on the junior classmate who walked over with the part-timer and Mun-soo, their faces are never properly shown. The junior classmate appears in a shot looking down from above, obscuring her face, and the part-timer’s face is also not clearly visible despite having lines. This contrasts with the case of Ye Ji-won, who later appears as the owner of the Arirang bar. Ye-jiwon’s face appears consistently, and her position is placed closest to the camera. Yet the differing portrayal of Ye-jiwon and the other two female characters likely relates to Sun-hee’s state of mind. More precisely, it stems from the issue of perspective arising from Sun-hee and Moon-soo’s relationship.
In this sequence, their encounter is interpreted differently by each. Moon-soo claims Seon-hee came looking for him, while Seon-hee says they met by chance while passing by. Neither side can be considered entirely correct. While Seon-hee might have seen Moon-soo by chance, it was Seon-hee who grabbed him and dragged him into the bar. Moon-soo wants to believe Seon-hee came looking for him. If so, the jealous behavior Seon-hee displayed might also have been created by Moon-soo’s gaze. Ultimately, Sun-hee leaves, and Mun-soo remains alone. The camera, too, does not follow Sun-hee but stays with Mun-soo. It began with Sun-hee, but only Mun-soo remains.
Another intriguing point in this sequence is that, though it started with Sun-hee, there exists a single shot where Sun-hee is left behind. It is the scene with Sang-woo. In the first scene meeting Sang-woo, he enters Sunhee’s frame, and the frame follows Sunhee away, leaving Sang-woo behind. However, in the scene where they meet again after seeing Professor Choi, it is Sang-woo who ultimately gets angry and leaves, while Sunhee remains in the frame.
So what is Sang-woo’s purpose? As I’ll mention later, the structure of the men appearing in ‘Our Sunhi’ resembles a coming-of-age story. Moon-soo grows up to become Jae-hak, and further growth seems destined to make him Professor Choi. Young Moon-soo chases Sun-hee, Jae-hak chases Sun-hee, and even the fully grown Professor Choi chases Sun-hee. As the phrase “Sunhee of us all” suggests, Sunhee seems to remain less a tangible presence and more a symbolic figure, like a first love. So who is Sang-woo among these men in their coming-of-age stories? While all the men are left behind for Sunhee, is Sang-woo the one who leaves her behind? Sang-woo was also the only person Sun-hee ever got angry at and showed her emotions to. Clearly, Sang-woo was someone who had feelings for Sun-hee. Didn’t he prevent her from going to see Professor Choi? Between scenes featuring Sang-woo, Professor Choi and Moon-soo are placed. Are they meant to represent the men Sun-hee passed by without any ‘something’? If so, Sang-woo’s position could have been placed anywhere. Even if Sang-woo passed by the window while she was at the bar with Moon-soo, it wouldn’t have felt awkward at all. Anyway, excluding this sequence, there are no instances in this film where Seon-hee is left behind. Only the men chasing her are left behind.
The day Seon-hee drank with Professor Choi
This sequence begins with the ‘sun’.
The sun slowly zooms in, filling the screen. As it zooms closer, the sun on the screen grows larger and larger, making the viewer feel dizzy. It feels like something dizzying is about to happen. To our Sunhee.
Sunhee meets Professor Choi and receives a recommendation letter, but its contents don’t please her. From the beginning of the film, Professor Choi tells Sunhee that knowing oneself is most important. Seonhee also advises Moon-soo to know himself. This advice extends to Moon-soo and Jae-hak as well. The film constantly emphasizes the importance of knowing oneself, but what exactly is one’s true self?
Unsatisfied with the recommendation letter from Professor Choi, Seonhee suggests a drinking session and asks him to rewrite it. While claiming to know her well, he reveals aspects of her she doesn’t want to show, prompting her to request corrections. By digging up past events, what Seon-hee ultimately wanted might have been just that one ‘recommendation letter’. Her goal was clear, but Professor Choi, who claimed to know her well, failed to grasp that purpose. He flutters at her embrace, takes her hand, and disappears somewhere together. Up until this point, Professor Choi wasn’t someone who would be left behind after Seon-hee left. Because he steps out of the frame with her.
The recommendation letter he asked her to “think about for just 30 more minutes” appears in the subsequent sequence, completely transformed within that very half-hour. What is the ‘true’ self? The notion that one must dig deep to understand their own limits is rarely found in their actions. Isn’t this very point the film’s true charm?
The day Sunhee drank with Jaehak
Professor Choi, carrying the fluttering feelings from the previous day, goes to meet Jaehak. He calls out to Jaehak in a manner similar to how he called out to Munsuk, but Jaehak still refuses to let anyone inside his house. This sequence confirms that this house is the one Professor Choi once lived in. Viewed from the perspective of the three men’s coming-of-age stories, is Jaehak walking the same path as Professor Choi?
Interestingly, while Jaehak refuses to let anyone into his home, he asks Seonhee specifically if she will come. Later, on his way back home, Jaehak encounters Seonhee sitting at a cafe in front of his house, and the two go out for drinks together. Here too, the talk about needing to know oneself is repeated. Just like Munsu and Jaehak’s meeting, they order chicken, and the bar owner joins their table. The recurring repertoire, as they say, endlessly circles around them. Their parting is identical too. Sunhee leaves, and Jaehak remains alone.
Before parting, they kiss. If we viewed the relationships with the three men as stages of growth, then with Moonsoo it was jealousy, with Jaehak it was a kiss, and with Professor Choi it was a hug followed by disappearance. If following the order of the coming-of-age phase, the natural sequence would be Moon-soo, Jae-hak, then Professor Choi. Yet the film arranges them as Moon-soo, Professor Choi, Jae-hak, and then Professor Choi again. This sequence also adds to the film’s charm. It seems to mock the audience’s expected repertoire.
The Day Everyone Gathered and the Day Left Behind
Seonhee’s initial purpose was the recommendation letter. Having received a favorable one, she would soon depart. Yet only the three men seem unaware of this. The men who pursued Seonhee gather one by one at Changgyeonggung Palace. Only Professor Choi, who wrote the letter with such care and anticipation, feels uneasy. Sunhee departs unhurriedly, and as always, Moon-soo and Jae-hak remain. And even Professor Choi, who had never once been left alone in the frame, is ultimately left behind.
The scene of the three men walking side by side in Changgyeonggung Palace slowly zooms out, appearing even more poignant. Lost in their own thoughts, they remain unaware that they have been left behind. Yet, they are ultimately thinking the same thing.
They are thinking of Seonhee: “kind and introverted, yet intelligent, possessing excellent discernment, a bit of a nutcase, but brave.” Though they urged others to know themselves, none truly sees themselves clearly. Each understands the world only through the lens they choose to believe. All while recalling their own version of Seonhee.
The Endless Cycle of Them and Us
The three characters, who advise each other to look squarely at themselves, yet fail to know themselves, endlessly cycle. The line “You must know yourself” repeats, and the places they meet repeat. The three characters seem like one person going through a growth period via trial and error. The entire film also circles and spins. Music already heard repeats, jumbled sequences reconnect, and the director’s signature zooms in and out repeat.
Zoom-ins and zoom-outs appear as a pattern, yet they sometimes serve as a means to avoid cutting scenes, and other times as a device to reveal a character’s inner thoughts. At times they seem meaningless, and at others they appear to carry immense significance. This too feels like a device mocking the audience’s attitude of seeking meaning. Isn’t this aspect also part of the cyclical structure?
Seonhee’s disappearance, her relationship with Moon-soo, her relationship with Jae-hak and Professor Choi, Sang-woo and Ye-jiwon, and even the part-time workers—all revolve. Yet, the one who leaves is Seonhee, and the ones who remain are the three men. Even if Seonhee were to return, it seems the three men would be left behind once more. Only Seonhee achieved her goal and left. The three men’s goal was ‘Seonhee’ herself, making it closer to an unattainable dream. What they saw was the Seonhee within their own perspectives, not the real Seonhee.
What if this story were rewritten from the perspective of the real Seonhee? But that too would be just another perspective, never the complete truth. It too would be written through Seon-hee’s lens.
In any case, our Seon-hee is gone, and only the three men remain. Each holding a different dream. And that scene still poses a valid question to today’s audience: Whose Seon-hee were we really looking at?
