A new film from Lee Chang-dong is always a major event on the cinema calendar. The South Korean auteur has directed six movies since 1997, each one demonstrating his literary sensibilities and keen eye for capturing human despair. And ever since his seventh film, the upcoming “Possible Love,” was announced, cinephiles have been preparing to have their hearts broken.
“Possible Love” is loosely based on a segment of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “Dekalog,” making it the second film of 2026 to take inspiration from the ten-part film that explored modern interpretations of the Ten Commandments. (The first was Asghar Farhadi’s “Parallel Lives,” which premiered to Cannes to mixed reviews.) The film explores the secrets hidden beneath marriages, following two married couples whose lives intersect while filming a documentary together.
“Possible Love” stars Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung, and Cho Yeo-jeong. Lee co-wrote the film with Oh Jung-mi.
An official synopsis for the film reads: A laid-off worker and his wife cross paths with a documentary filmmaker and her spouse and confront their hidden desires.
“Possible Love” will have its world premiere at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival, where it will compete for the Golden Lion. It will go on to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival before Netflix releases it domestically in October. The film has been selected as South Korea’s official submission to the Best International Feature category at the 99th Academy Awards.
While Lee has not released a film in eight years, he has remained active in the world of literature and continued to promote repertory screenings of his work. In a 2024 interview with IndieWire, he reflected on the thematic threads connecting his entire filmography.
“Everyone unexpectedly faces pain and suffers from hopelessness and failure,” Lee said. “That is life. The world unjustly suppresses and gives pain to an individual. The problem is how you cope with the pain. Thus, the struggle is more important than the pain itself. Through the struggle, humans find the purpose of life and find salvation. Protagonists in tragedies are those types of people. I tried to capture the human struggle for meaning through my films.”
Netflix will release “Possible Love” in select theaters on Friday, October 23 before it hits the streaming service on November 6. Watch the trailer below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd3qXH9qN70
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