Past Lives director Celine Song on the real-life ‘superhero’ moment behind Sundance Film Festival hit’s opening scene, and the non-love triangle at its heart

For Korean-Canadian debutante filmmaker Celine Song, sitting in a bar translating between her white American husband and a Korean ex-sweetheart was revelatory

‘I felt like a magician or a superhero,’ recalls Song, who crafted Past Lives, a thoughtful love story and unusually soulful immigrant tale, out of that moment

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Celine Song explains why a real life moment between her, her husband and a childhood sweetheart was so pivotal to the creation of her debut film “Past Lives”. Photo: Matt Licari/Invision/AP

Published: 4:15pm, 14 Jun 2023

Celine Song was 12 when she moved from South Korea to Ontario, Canada. Her parents gave her the chance to pick a new first name. There are differing theories among her family about how she – then Ha-young – settled on Celine.

“My dad insists it’s from a French film, Céline and Julie Go Boating,” says Song, whose father is a filmmaker. “But I feel like there just happened to be a Celine Dion CD lying around.”

The adjustment was difficult at first. Song, used to being an accomplished student, had to learn English. It would not be until years later – when she was an up-and-coming playwright, had moved to New York in the US and got married – that she fully grasped something different about her cultural duality.

Song was sitting in an East Village bar with her white American husband and a childhood sweetheart from Korea, who had come to visit. Neither spoke the other language so Song was their only bridge, the only way they could communicate and the only reason this unlikely threesome had been brought together.

Celine Song at the New York screening of “Past Lives” in May, 2023. Photo: TNS

“I remember feeling this thing that I’ve always felt: a chip on my shoulder about being ESL [English as a second language] or not having grown up with the English language,” says Song.

“But then I was sitting there thinking: No, I feel so, so powerful. I felt like a magician or a superhero type. These two worlds are collapsing – time and space is folding on itself – because of me. And I didn’t have to do anything except exist. I just had to be me and that was enough.”