A couple, ages apart and with love that keeps them together. Pascha shows a different kind of love that exists in this world, which to many is non-existent but once known becomes unacceptable. Shown in the Busan International Film Festival Choice section of the 9^th London Korean Film Festival 2014, this South Korean independent film raised many questions and brought an immense awareness about people who actually live in a questionable and an unacceptable relationship. Director Ahn Sun-kyoung through this touching story shows that love really has no age, and can be acceptable in any way possible.

 The characters in Pascha are very interesting. The woman is nearly forty years old, and the man is only in his teens. Their love for each other doesn’t only cease between them, but expands onto the cats that they have kept as their pets. They keep them as their children and talk to them as if they are their own kids. The woman is also a writer and is always busy writing at home while on the other hand she keeps herself busy with feeding her cats. Although she tries to find work, she is always sent back. The teenage boy, who is reclusive and finds himself to be unconfident quits school and ends up doing a part time job which is not very promising.

 Their private life is intruded upon by the woman’s family. Her mother, trying to find her a husband tries to force her into a life which she does not accept, and criticises her when she finds out that she’s in love with a teenager many years younger than her. On the other hand her father has a loving relationship with her, but can’t come to terms with her affair with a young one and thus keeps his feelings to himself; but her bad mouthing brother feels very ashamed and tries his best to make her get out of that relationship as it brings a bad name to the family.

Focusing mainly on the female character, the film brings the viewers to terms with the different kind of love a woman can have. A woman’s emotions are stronger than men, and her power of facing problems in life is far much stronger. Her decision making capability increases when she is faced with extreme complexities that occur in her life.

The film takes us into the life of an odd aged couple whose love for each other keeps them together along with their cats. Their relationship due to their age difference is unacceptable due to which the middle aged woman (Kim So-Hee) has to face the criticism and the teenage boy (Sung Ho-jun) the responsibility of being a man. The film takes a turn when the woman turns out to be pregnant and thus the film takes us through the minds of the two characters that have to make very important decisions, face harsh criticism and at a point come near to betrayal.

‘Pascha’ was given into a competition in the New Currents section of the Busan International Film Festival 2013 by the emerging talent Director Ahn Seon-kyoung.

Director: Ahn Seon-kyoung

Writer: Ahn Seon-kyoung

Producer: Sung Ho-jun

Cinematographer: Yu Ji-sun

Cast: Kim So-Hee, Sung Ho-jun, shin Yeon-sook, Lim Hyung-tae, Gong Jae-min.

Genre: Drama, Tragedy

Country: South Korea

Lanuage: Korean

Release Date: Reviewed at Kofic screening room, Seoul, Aug. 12, 2013. (In Busan Film Festival — New Currents, competing.) 

Run Time: 95 min