Past Lives‘ ending is a thought-provoking conclusion to the complex and beautiful love story. A semi-autobiographical work from first-time filmmaker Celine Song, Past Lives revolves around 24 years in the lives of two childhood friends, Nora and Hae Sung, as they grow apart after Nora’s family emigrates to Toronto and eventually reconnect later in life. Past Lives made an unprecedented cultural splash that ended up resulting in two Oscar nominations – Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for Song – which is practically unheard of for a little indie darling like this.
The first half of the movie follows Nora and Hae Sung’s relationship from their early childhood friendship to their reconnection over Skype from opposite ends of the world. At the midpoint, the two are reunited in New York, and thanks to the build-up, their reunion has the appropriate emotional wallop. The second half of the movie sees Nora and Hae Sung wandering around the city, pondering what could have been. Past Lives ends with Nora walking Hae Sung to his taxi and bidding him farewell. Hae Sung’s last line to Nora in this scene has a deeper meaning to unravel.
What Hae Sung’s Last Line To Nora Means
Hae Sung Leaves His Heartbreak On An Optimistic Note
After having dinner with Nora and her husband, Arthur, on his last night in New York, Hae Sung returns to their apartment and orders an Uber. Nora walks Hae Sung down the street to the pickup point and waits for his Uber with him. For a while, they don’t say any words to each other; they just share a lengthy, meaningful gaze into each other’s eyes. When Hae Sung finally thinks of something to say, it’s worth the wait. Following on from their discussion of past lives, he wonders if the life that they’re currently living is a past life.
He asks Nora what kind of relationship they’ll have in the next life, and she says she doesn’t know. Hae Sung says, “I’ll see you then,” before getting in his Uber and leaving for the airport. After spending the whole movie lamenting the fact that he has this beautiful connection with someone he cares about and nothing will ever come of it due to extenuating circumstances, Hae Sung’s final line has a refreshing hint of optimism. People grow closer with each new incarnation, so Hae Sung is optimistic that, in the next life, he and Nora will be even closer.
Past Lives was named one of the best movies of 2023 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Insтιтute.
Why Nora Cries At The End Of Past Lives
Nora’s Complicated Feelings Come Pouring Out
At the very end of Past Lives, after walking Hae Sung to his Uber and returning home to her husband, Nora breaks down in tears. This emotional breakdown isn’t necessarily as black-and-white as Nora wishing she’d stayed with Hae Sung instead of moving to New York and marrying someone else; it’s much more complicated than that. Nora didn’t anticipate how emotional it would be to say goodbye to Hae Sung. She regrets that life got in the way of her connection with Hae Sung and maybe even feels guilty that she left an old love behind to find new love.
Do Nora & Hae Sung Love Each Other?
Their Past Means Different Things To Both Of Them
Nora and Hae Sung both care deeply for each other. The fact that they were so close as 12-year-olds, then picked up right where they left off when they reconnected online 12 years later, then picked up where they left off and reconnected yet again another 12 years later, proves that there is a truly special bond between these two people. But do they love each other? All throughout the movie, it’s pretty clear that Hae Sung is madly in love with Nora (and always has been) and he wishes they could be together. But Nora is a different story.
The question of whether Nora loves Hae Sung is complicated. She’s not in love with him, but she clearly has strong feelings for him. There’s no question that Nora loves Arthur – even when Arthur himself has doubts, Nora ᴀssures him she’s not going to leave him for Hae Sung – but she has undoubtedly pondered the what-if scenario of what would’ve happened if she never lost touch with Hae Sung. When they were kids, they seemed destined to spend their lives together. Hae Sung will always have a special place in Nora’s heart, even if she doesn’t love him.
The Korean Buddhist Concept Of “Inyeon” Explained
The Concept Reflects Hae Sung’s Final Line
The thematic backbone of Past Lives – and the meaning of its тιтle – is taken from the Korean Buddhist concept of “inyeon.” It generally refers to the idea of fate or destiny, but specifically through the lens of relationships between people. This concept supposes that deep human relationships (like a marriage or a close friendship) are formed by thousands of layers of past lives in which those two people got closer and closer.
Hae Sung wonders if he’s currently living a past life, because he feels like he’s just one layer of inyeon away from a lifetime of happiness with Nora.
The Real Meaning Of Past Lives’ Ending
The Ending Gives A New Perspective On What Might Have Been
The final scene of Past Lives goes out of its way to end the movie on an optimistic note. The majority of the movie is about what could have been as Hae Sung reconnects with Nora and wonders if she’d be married to him and not Arthur if she hadn’t left South Korea when they were 12. But the ending isn’t about what could’ve been; it’s about what could be. Hae Sung wondering if he and Nora will be closer in the next life shows he has hope for the future, even if that hopeful future is a lifetime away.
Before coming to New York to visit Nora, Hae Sung had held onto the futile hope that he might still somehow end up with her in this life. But after seeing how happy she is with Arthur, and getting to know Arthur and realizing he’s a good guy, Hae Sung finally accepts that the only relationship he can have with Nora in this lifetime is a long-distance friendship. However, he doesn’t want to give up hope entirely, so he focuses that hope on the next life. The ending of Past Lives shows that there’s always some hope to hold onto.
How The Past Lives Ending Was Received
The Bittersweet Ending Was Seen From Different Perspectives
Past Lives was one of the most critically acclaimed movies of 2023, with the entire film being lauded for its emotional, complex, and consuming nature. The ending was largely seen as an extension of everything that worked about the movie, bringing it to a conclusion that was pointed out by many critics as being the natural end to this story, while also subverting expectations. A review in The Hollywood Reporter specifically spoke to the movie’s reserved nature as helping the ending hit hard despite little being said overtly:
The emotional forтιтude required for Hae Sung finally to open up to Nora and articulate his feelings is enormous, and yet Song and her actors play the scene with unerring restraint. The same goes for the concluding stretch, which is both gut-wrenching and consoling.
It was generally agreed upon by critics that the bittersweet ending was ultimately a more positive reflection on relationships and the past, though many interpreted exactly what that final optimistic idea was. The Eagle took a look at the ending from Nora’s perspective and acknowledged that it needed two watches in order to realize it was not a sad ending about her letting go of a true love:
At first glance, you will wish that Nora and Hae Sung got their happy ending, but upon the second watch, you will realize that this was all a part of Nora’s journey of letting go of her childhood nostalgia.
By contrast, the review in Variety puts forth the idea that the ending of Past Lives acknowledges that pᴀssion is too difficult to narrow down to one thing or even one person. Therefore, the ending speaks to the idea that there can be more than one love of your life, regardless of which path you choose:
Perhaps it’s because this ultra-personal project is about a feeling other than pᴀssion — one that evolves over the years, and which allows one life to contain multiple loves.
The review at RogerEbert.com simply highlighted the idea that the bittersweetness of the ending reflects how we often view memories themselves:
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.
