According to Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral Center on the U.S. National Institutes of Health website and the Alzheimer Society of Canada, Alzheimer’s Disease is a degenerative, progressive disease of the brain that causes cognitive functioning and memory to become severely damaged. It usually happens to people aged 60 years and above. The disease was discovered by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1906 when he paid attention to the unusual changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of a mental disorder with symptoms such as memory loss, language and vocabulary problems and a volatile behavior. During the autopsy, the doctor discovered many abnormalities like tangled fibers, plaques and unconnected neutrons. To this date, the cause of the illness remains unknown and damages to the brain occur as early as ten to 20 years before visible symptoms, making it harder to understand.
In the movie, the lead actress Su-Jin was portrayed as a forgetful character. This was shown when she failed to remember her way back home and when she forgot that she had recently bought a can of coke. After several meticulous tests conducted by an expert, it was revealed that Su-Jin was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and that early signs of forgetfulness confirmed the diagnosis.
Initially, Su-Jin decided to keep the burden of this knowledge to herself. However, as the movie progresses, her husband Cheul-Soo noticed her strange and incoherent actions and realized that something must be amiss. Cheul-Soo confronted Su-Jin’s doctor to contest the diagnosis, but upon the revelation that the doctor had specialized in the field after the disease consumed his wife, Cheul-Soo was forced to accept the bitter reality.
Cheul-Soo then took it upon himself to make Su-Jin feel like nothing had changed and that he was unaware of her condition. However, it came to a point when everything started to look bleak for the two characters.
At the full onset of the disease, Su-Jin decided to leave Cheul-Soo for she loved him a lot and didn’t want him to assume responsibility to take care of her. She felt it would be better to leave him, than to stay without a single memory of their love story together. Despite Su-Jin’s disappearance, Cheul-Soo persevered in finding her and when he did, he tried to recreate the scene at the store where they first met each other with help from their families and friends.
Korean actor, Jung Woo- Sung, plays Choi Cheul-Soo, a tough and temperamental carpenter. Cheul-Soo is burdened by the hatred he harbours towards his mother who abandoned him during his childhood. This effect is greatly apparent in his dealings with others as he is viewed as rude and insensitive. Towards the second half of the movie, Cheul-Soo’s character is given emotional depth as he plays the love interest of Kim Su-Jin, played by Korean actress, Son Ye-Jin. The vulnerability of the character as he undergoes a gradual transition from a tough, insensitive carpenter to a loving and caring husband is well-emoted by renowned actor Woo-Sung.
Son Ye-Jin initially plays the contrived character of Kim Su-Jin, the pretty and funny daughter of a rich contractor who experiences bouts of forgetfulness. This character is also given emotional maturity upon the revelation that Su-Jin is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, a rare condition at a very young age. The emotional journey she makes from this devastating reality evokes sympathy from the audience. Both actors strongly convince the audience not only in their chemistry, but in the emotional depth their characters delve in to stay together despite the growing trials associated with Su-Jin’s medical condition.
The movie primarily deals with love and the trials one faces in maintaining a relationship amidst several other themes such as social standing, strained familial relationships and more seriously, the degenerative medical condition of Alzheimer’s disease.
Su-Jin’s affection for Cheul-Soo, who happens to be the forearm of her father, is highly disapproved as the question of social strata is brought forward. Su-Jin is mentally burdened by the contesting attitude of her father towards Cheul-Soo and faints, only to be brought to the hospital by Cheul-Soo. The movie then goes on to show the two happily married, which shows that love cannot be defined simply in terms of social strata and standing.
The movie uses “forgiveness” as a theme to reconcile the differences between characters. In the beginning of the movie, Su-Jin’s character musters up a lot of courage to forgive herself after a failed attempt to elope with a married man. Another conflict in the plot emerges when Su-Jin approaches Cheul-Soo to forgive his mother who he has grown up to hate. The process of forgiving is not very easy, as the character goes through a lot of internal conflict before being able to forgive the hurt done to him. Forgiveness as shown in the movie, enabled the characters the strength to move on with their lives as they forgot the mistakes they made and the hurt done to them.
The plot, highly reminiscent of “Love Story,” depicts love as that one element which gives hope and strength amidst loss. Despite the increasing frustrations involved with the rapidly deteriorating memory loss of Su-Jin, Cheul-Soo never once leaves Su-Jin and stands beside her even in the bleakest of moments. Love helped Cheul-Soo become a better man and helped Su-Jin find the balance in her life. Love became the reason for their very existence.
