Writer and researcher Louise Cain wrote about how in cinema, queer people are othered through being displaced in many ways and forms, including that of geographic displacement, where their moments and relationships are tucked away in some secret, grand place such as in the mountains, cliffsides, the majestic, breath-taking spots. Even with all their splendor, however, such scenery really just serve as caverns of covertness, as enclaves of hidden lives.
In the documentary “Life Unrehearsed” directed by Banpark Jieun, this displacement is both shattered and redefined. The film shows how the everyday routine of an old Korean lesbian couple in Germany unfolds in a manifold of spaces – from their own home, to the most mundane of public places, from the parks to the beaches, to just the usual roads and streets, making it the most ordinary thing for a society to witness their love and identity.
Already in their 70s, Lee Soohyun and Kim In-Sun met over 30 years ago in a retreat organized by the Korean Christian Women's Association in Harz in northern Gemany. In-Sun was already married, but despite the judgment from her husband and family, she chose to be with Soohyun. In Germany, they are able to hold hands in public, which is exactly what caught Banpark's eye and motivated her to do a film about them. While this display of public affection is not exactly that frequent, it's still a testament to how they could openly live their lives there as a queer couple, a reality that is still being shrouded, shamed and shunned in their home country, South Korea.
South Korea, with all its economic leaps and bounds, remains largely homophobic and unaccepting of sexual minorities. This year's Pride month celebrations, for one, were condemned by the mayor of Daegu, Hong Joon-pyo, while authorities in Seoul refused to grant Pride March organizers a permit to hold the event in Seoul Plaza, making it the venue instead of a Christian rock concert.
The displacement for Soohyun and In-Sun is therefore not perceptible in Germany, where they do not need to exist in some magical albeit concealed corner so they can be who they are. They, however, remain displaced because they have to be in another country altogether just so they can live their truth.
This distorted and amplified sense of displacement becomes more evident when it comes to their political and cultural visibility. In-Sun is willing to travel all the way back to South Korea to join the Pride march and protest for LGBTQI rights there, but is less enthusiastic to do the same in Germany, where being with the same sex is normalized. Soohyun, on the other hand, is the exact opposite – she goes to the Pride march in Germany and appreciates its every aspect of inclusiveness and intersectionality. Soohyun does this because it seems this is the only place where she can, as her immediate family and relatives back home all continue to chastise and condemn her queerness.
Having said this, both actively make sure their voices are heard in other causes they believe in, whether it be fighting against sexual harassment in the workplace in hospitals in Germany, something they are familiar with as they worked as nurses and seeking for increased funding for health facilities.
Banpark interweaves these moments with those of their more mundane experiences at home, with the two doing their own share of domestic chores, from cooking to replacing broken lightbulbs, to those that show what it means to be in a lifetime commitment with someone, through sickness and in health. This is what makes “Life Unrehearsed” a truly emblematic story of what life is – a cornucopia of moments, both random and routine, made special by being with someone who knows, values and loves who you truly are.
