"After 'The Handmaiden', Park Chan-wook's 11th feature film released after a 6-year gap. It depicts the story of a detective who investigates a murder case that occurred in the mountains and feels both suspicion and interest after meeting the deceased's wife.
Selected for the Competition section of the 75th Cannes Film Festival, it won the Best Director award.
The case of a man falling from a mountain peak.
Detective 'Hae-jun' (played by Park Hae-il) is assigned to the case and meets the deceased's wife 'Seo-rae' (played by Tang Wei).
"I was worried when you didn't come back from the mountain, afraid you might die."
'Seo-rae' shows no special emotions in front of her husband's death.
The police put 'Seo-rae', who is different from ordinary bereaved families, under suspicion.
As 'Hae-jun' investigates the alibi and the news of the day of the incident, and conducts undercover surveillance, he feels his interest in her growing.
Meanwhile, 'Seo-rae', who is hard to read, continues to treat 'Hae-jun' without hesitation, even knowing that he suspects her....
A suspect hiding the truth,
A detective who feels suspicion and interest towards the suspect at the same time,
Their 'decision to part.'
The total production cost of the film is around 13.5 billion won, and the breakeven point is about 1.2 million viewers.
It was released on Culture Day in June 2022.
It surpassed 500,000 viewers in its opening weekend.
The initial box office performance was somewhat sluggish, as the unexpected longevity of 'Top Gun: Maverick' and the subsequent release of 'Thor: Love and Thunder' negatively affected the success of 'Decision to Part'.
Additionally, there are views that excessive increases in ticket prices led to the focus of the general audience shifting towards action/blockbuster films.
Overall, despite being a non-teen-rated film like 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance' and 'Lady Vengeance', which achieved 2-4 million viewers, many fans express doubts about the lackluster performance of 'Decision to Part'. Following the sweeping success of 'The Outlaws 2', the fact that it was released less than a month later was considered a setback, and there are evaluations that it would have been much better if it had been released in the fall.
Nevertheless, starting from the latter half of the second week, word-of-mouth began to spread, and it eventually surpassed 1 million viewers on the first day of the third week, July 13. X Corp Icon(Black)
On July 17, it finally surpassed the breakeven point of 1.2 million viewers. 📰
In the fourth week, due to the release of 'Alien+ In Part 1' and 'Minions 2', it dropped in rankings. However, it managed to land at fourth place, surpassing 'Thor: Love and Thunder'. As of July 24, the cumulative number of viewers exceeded 1.5 million.
Even after the fourth week, the decrease in audience compared to other films is not significant. Considering that the number of viewers exceeded 50,000 on the weekend of the fourth week, it is believed that the film's success is gradually but steadily continuing. The reason is attributed to the high quality of the film, which leads to repeat viewings by the audience.
It surpassed 1.6 million viewers in the fifth week and consecutively exceeded 1.7 million viewers. With the launch of IPTV service on August 9 and surpassing 1.8 million viewers on August 12, it is expected to finish around 1.89 million viewers. Overcoming initial concerns about box office success, it surpassed the breakeven point of 690,000 viewers.
As of February 2023, it is still being screened.
Among the Korean films released in 2022, it joined the ranks of 'Witch (Part 2): The Other One', 'The Outlaws 2', 'Hansan: Rise of the Dragons', 'Six-Four (6/45)', 'Hunt', 'Confidential Assignment 2: International', and 'The Owl' that surpassed the breakeven point."