Driving with My Wife’s Lover

What is love and in what form is love acceptable? Is it tied to marital fidelity? Is it hidden in destructive jealousy?
Tae-Han is the colourless owner of a small shop and is married to a woman whose love he thought he had. When he finds out she has a lover, his already shaky self-image starts to fall to pieces. Instead of a direct confrontation with his wife’s seducer, he decides to lure him into a trap. He travels to Seoul, where his rival is a taxi driver, and hires him for a long journey. Before the long journey ends by his wife, the two men have a lot to cope with together in unexpected situations. Looking at the silent, stubborn men who are also wrestling with their similarities it slowly becomes apparent that the rival has as much or as little to offer as the deceived husband. The question is whether this recognition leads to a broader view of what love means and demands.
In this tragicomic drama filled with irony and pathos, Kim Tai-Sik does not so much show the destructive power of adultery, but above all the emotional isolation of a small man who is trapped in his own impotence and social class. (GT)

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