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Return to Seoul

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6.2/10 • 348

2022-11-181h 59m

Drama

After an impulsive travel decision to visit friends, Freddie, 25, returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. Freddie suddenly finds herself embarking on an unexpected journey in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.

Directors
Davy Chou
Writters
Davy Chou
Editors
Davy Chou, Dounia Sichov

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Park Ji-Min

    Park Ji-Min

    Freddie

  2. Oh Kwang-rok

    Oh Kwang-rok

    Father

  3. Guka Han

    Guka Han

    Tena

  4. Kim Sun-young

    Kim Sun-young

    Aunt

  5. Yoann Zimmer

    Yoann Zimmer

    Maxime

  6. Louis-Do de Lencquesaing

    Louis-Do de Lencquesaing

    Andre

  7. Heo Jin

    Heo Jin

    Grandmother

  8. Emeline Briffaud

    Emeline Briffaud

    Lucie

  9. Lim Cheol-hyun

    Lim Cheol-hyun

    Kay-Kay

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

May 15, 2023

6/10

I think I may have warmed to this film better had I not taken an instant dislike to "Freddie" (Park Ji-min). Now it's certainly a testament to this actor that she is able to successfully - and pretty immediately - engender a sense that her character is a rather selfish, manipulative and unpleasant individual; but I'm afraid I struggled to remain engaged as her troubled story of adoption and of her re-introduction to her birth family is played out over the next two hours. "Freddie" appears to have been happily brought up by a couple in France, so her increasingly thoughtless behaviour doesn't really have an anchor - and as we progress and she becomes more obnoxious - as exemplified by her final scene in the car with poor old "Maxime" (Yoann Zimmer) - I found the story has just about run out of merit. The acting is generally good. The efforts from her slightly dipso dad (Oh Kwang-rok) is convincing as he has to reconcile the discovery of his long-lost daughter with his dependency on the bottle and her own pretty obvious disdain for the man. It also offers us quite an interesting insight into just how adoptions worked as the decline of the French colonial system in post-war Korea led to many children being offered by parents who hoped that a childhood and education in France would offer greater opportunity, but again with "Freddie" that isn't really developed. What has turned her into this rather objectionable person is rather left aside. It has an element of "be careful what you wish for" to it, and is, at times, an interesting observation on the stresses of the post-adoption processes but I just didn't like or care about her and so my enthusiasm just waned.

Media

  • Return to Seoul poster
  • Return to Seoul poster
  • Return to Seoul poster
  • Return to Seoul poster
  • Return to Seoul poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
French
Budget
--
Revenue
$1,594,998.00
Keywords
identityadoptionfamily reunionjourneyfrench womaninternational adoptionseoul, south koreasearching for biological parentskorean culture