This 2023 drama is now streaming on Netflix and it has a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Past Lives is rated at 95% by the critics on Rotten Tomatoes with the audience rating it just below at 93%. The critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes describes the film as a “remarkable debut for writer-director Celine Song, Past Lives uses the bonds between its sensitively sketched central characters to support trenchant observations on the human condition”.
Released in 2023, the A24 production was directed by Celine Song. It stars Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro and features both English and Korean dialogue throughout. Past Lives was met with instant critical acclaim and was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
The film’s synopsis follows “Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, who are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Decades later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront destiny, love and the choices that make a life”.
The film received five stars from the Guardian’s film critic Peter Bradshaw, who described it as “a must-see story of lost loves, childhood crushes and changing identities”.
He said: “Past Lives is a glorious date movie, and a movie for every occasion, too. As ever with films like this, there is an auxiliary pleasure in wondering how much of her own past life Song has used. It’s a must-see.”
In its five-star review, Empire wrote: “A transcendent debut for South Korean-Canadian filmmaker Celine Song, this romantic drama is a masterclass in slow, simmering storytelling. It will stay with you, maybe even into your next life.”
Roger Ebert awarded the film with four out of four stars and said: “It takes a romantic view of the if-thens of what could have been, enjoying them like sandcastles washed away by time. We can delight in the memories of our past lives while acknowledging the loss of childhood things left behind, roads never taken, and relationships that were never meant for us.”
Past Lives is available to stream now on Netflix.