Venice Film Festival

'No Other Choice', a black comedy shot with class

At the Venice Film Festival it is the day of Park Chan-wook, the South Korean auteur known for films such as 'Old Boy' and 'Lady Vendetta'

30 August 2025

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A project that has been nurtured for some 20 years: Park Chan-wook brings the highly anticipated 'No Other Choice', a film he started planning a long time ago, to the Venice Film Festival.

At the centre of the plot is Man-su, a papermaking specialist with twenty-five years of experience. He happily spends his days with his wife Miri, two children and two dogs, until one day he is suddenly informed by his company that he has been fired. The man then vows to find a new job within the next three months, for the sake of the family. However, things turn out differently and, more than a year after his dismissal, he risks losing his home and much of a family wealth that seems to be completely compromised. It will be after a new interview that he will make an extreme decision.

Contemporary South Korean cinema is no stranger to dealing with themes related to economic differences, often with consequences that result in violence: one thinks of Bong Joon-ho's memorable 'Parasite', but also of the late Kim Ki-duk's 'Pieta', which won the Golden Lion in Venice in 2012.

Returning from the melodramatic noir 'Decision to Leave', Park Chan-wook changes register and directs a black comedy with flashes of the grotesque to deal with numerous topical issues: from the economic crisis to unemployment and the increased use of technology in the workplace.

Another revenge

While the South Korean author is famous for his revenge trilogy, culminating with the central chapter 'Old Boy' in 2003, here too, the focus is on a kind of settling of accounts that the protagonist demands of today's society.

Initially, 'No Other Choice' struggles to get going but, after an initial phase that smacks of the familiar, it grows impressively in pace and stylistic elegance.

Park makes precise use of sound, alternating classical music with deafening noises, perfectly balanced with an impressive visual apparatus.

It is nothing new that the South Korean director is an excellent audiovisual orchestrator, and in this case he confirms this with what turns out to be one of the most entertaining and profound films in his filmography.

The performance of the entire cast was also good.

À pied d'œuvre

À pied d'œuvre' by Valérie Donzelli was also presented in competition.

At the centre is the true story of a successful photographer who gives up everything to devote himself to writing and... discovers poverty.

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Franck Courtès, the film is the portrait of a man who leaves behind a wealthy life in order to pursue his dreams: a radical choice that provokes different feelings in the spectator, but in any case without leaving him absolutely indifferent.

À pied d’œuvre

Author of the beautiful 'War is Declared' in 2011, Valérie Donzelli seemed to have lost her way a little with subsequent films: from 'Marguerite & Julian' to 'The Courage of Blanche' there was little to salvage in the films of a director who manages to find herself again with this feature.

Although lacking any great flashes of brilliance, À pied d'œuvre is a delicate and elegant work, capable of making us empathise with a main character who is anything but easy to pin down. Bastien Bouillon's performance raises the level of an honest product, certainly not memorable, but nevertheless capable of doing its job rather well.

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