Hong Sangsoo's previous film, Turning Gate, was his biggest hit so far in Korea. After five films, he nonetheless remains a confidential filmmaker in his own country but the unanimous praise of the critics and his renown overseas through festivals has turned him into an unwitting standardbearer. This particular position allows him to make his films in conditions of relative comfort. Principal photography for Woman is the Future of Man began in September 2003. As usual, Hong Sangsoo paid a great deal of attention to the preparatory work, even if this meant deliberately creating confusion...

I met him for the first time in a wine-bar in the Ch'ôngdam district. He spoke to me about Cézanne and Homer's Odyssey. That same day, I bought two books containing reproductions of Cézanne's works. Subsequently, I didn't obtain any concrete explanation about these subjects: he never again mentioned Cezanne or the Odyssey to me. The books about Cézanne that I still have on my desk are, at the end of the day, the sole indication of his ideas concerning the image that he gave me. Hong Sangsoo probably wanted me to interpret Cezanne in my own way, through the images that I would be filming.
-Kim Hyungkoo, director of photography

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We started shooting in September but we met on several occasions from the month of May on. During these meetings, he would make us drink a lot and, while we were drinking and getting drunk together, we had the impression that we were being observed by Hong Sangsoo.
-Yoo Jitae, actor

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The trust that his crew has in him allows him to use unusual and often unsettling work methods.

The script was often distributed on the day of shooting. Then Mr. Hong would see to all the details of the scene. Everyone would be as focused as possible. Over a fairly short time span, 5 between the moment when we received the script and the shooting of the scene, we really had to concentrate hard to get the most minor details across. -Kim Taewoo, actor In the morning, when he arrives on the set, he finishes off the scenes for the day - a rather uneconomic method, in a way. He arrives in the morning and, until he has finished writing, the crew has to wait. But I understand very well why he works like this: I myself find most of my inspiration for my lighting on the set. During filming, he continually aroused my curiosity. The scenes that I hadn't really understood when I read them on paper gradually became clear...
-Kim Hyungkoo, director of photography

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Hong Sangsoo's first film opened with an extreme close-up. He has acquired a reputation as a filmmaker interested in "details". In Woman is the Future of Man, the most anecdotal word and the most trivial object can take on crucial importance in the story.

There's something surprising about Hong Sangsoo's attention to details. The bulk of his work consists in highlighting them. The result gives an impression of freedom but it is in fact a totally calculated kind of freedom.
-Sung Hyunah, actress

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He asks us to follow his directions faithfully. He gives instructions concerning the tiniest detail. He wants us to respect his intentions even in the manner of speaking or the precision of the lines.
-Yoo Jitae, actor

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I like his films above all because they are amusing. Not in the style of comic films but they manage to capture aspects of everyday life that drift by without us really paying attention to them. They show things that we look at and say, "That's right, it's just like that". That's what's amusing.
-Kim Taewoo, actor

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An admirer of Bresson, this almost manic attention to detail leads Hong Sangsoo towards films constructed in fragments, as indicated by the shattered ashtray in Turning Gate. It is almost logical that Woman is the Future of Man should also tackle the theme of memory.

When you talk about memory, you don't talk about it in its entirety, but in fragments. The cinema shows this in a more convincing manner than any other art form. Like Turning Gate, Woman is the Future of Man relates a trip that lasts two days. The chapters fall into place as the characters remember each other. At first, the leap in time accompanies the leap in space. Then reality and dreams mingle to the extent that we no longer really know where we are.
-Ham Sungwon, editor

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The seasons are an important element. In this film, I wanted to differentiate the scenes set in the past from those set in the present. For instance, I wanted to play on color and contrast so that the past would clearly correspond to summer when the present unfolds against the snowy winter background. But Hong Sangsoo didn't want past and present to be so distinct on the visual level.
-Kim Hyungkoo, director of photography

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Like Hong Sangsoo's previous films, Woman is the Future of Man takes place in a world of slightly bohemian artists and intellectuals. Hong Sangsoo takes inspiration from his entourage to create his characters. Often, one of them ends up taking on the director's physical aspects. This autobiographical side to his work extends even beyond the actors. Hong Sangsoo said one day about his cinematic world, "People tell me that I make films about reality. They're wrong. I make films based on structures that I have thought up". I would tend to agree with him. Most directors project their thoughts and verbal tics onto their films but this is particularly true of Hong Sangsoo. While others carry out changes during filming when they are inspired by the actors' performances, Hong Sangsoo brings everything down to his own frame. His way of talking, for instance, is very present in the film.
-Yoo Jitae, actor

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The special rhythm of Hong Sangsoo's films is a source of great curiosity and immense pleasure for me. It probably results from his way of working and even from his way of living. You often have the impression that he has a temporal rhythm all of his own and this influences me a great deal when we work together.
-Ham Sungwon, editor

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Attempts At Interpretation The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well took its title from an American poem, The Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors from a work by Duchamp and had two different titles: one in French and one in Korean. Here, Hong Sangsoo perhaps takes his inspiration from a poem by Aragon: Man's future is Woman, she is the color of his soul, yet, once again, we are tempted to consider the title as the entrance to a new labyrinthine work that aims to be both mysterious and light...

As the title says, the film is about the relationship between men and women: how does the same woman live on in the memory of two different men? What influence does this have on their present lives? The film asks this kind of question without providing an answer. I think that man and woman experience each other's influence and that the story evolves through this relationship. That is why the woman is the future of man and it cannot be oth erwise...
-Ham Sungwon, editor

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However...

A lot of people try to interpret this film from its title, but there isn't necessarily a direct link between the two.
-Sung Hyunah, actress