Isabelle Huppert On The “Unique Experience” Of Working Without A Script On Hong Sangsoo Berlin Title ‘A Traveler’s Needs’

“This might sound very irresponsible, but I don’t know what I’m doing,” South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo told a Berlinale presser this afternoon when quizzed on his unique directing style. 

The prolific filmmaker is back at Berlin with A Traveler’s Needs, his seventh film in three years. The film stars French screen veteran Isabelle Huppert and Sangsoo has six credits on the film, including director, screenplay, cinematography, editing, and music and he is also listed as the film’s producer. 

“I start with some objectives and then I have a recognized working method that I have developed. And I believe in a certain happening between people,” he continued. 

A Traveler’s Needs is Huppert’s third collaboration with Sangsoo, and she told the Berlinale presser that the Korean filmmaker provides a creative environment like no other filmmaker she has worked with. She said this is largely thanks to his process of working without a script. 

“It’s very difficult to project yourself into the story or role because there is no role or story. There is just the way he captures the present moment and the state of a person confronting a certain world,” Huppert said of Sangsoo.

“And this is why I like working with Hong. You really cannot go to work with him the same way you go with another director. It’s really a unique experience.”

The pic also stars Sangsoo regulars Lee Hyeyoung and Kwon Haehyo. The vague official synopsis reads: This woman who came from who knows where says she came from France. She was sitting on a bench in a neighborhood park, diligently playing a child’s recorder. With no money or means of supporting herself, she was advised to teach French. In that way she became a teacher to two Korean women. She likes to walk barefoot on the ground and lie down on rocks. And when she is up to it, she tries to see each instant in a non-verbal way, and to live her life as factually as possible. But life remains as hard as ever. She relies on Makkeolli every day for a small bit of comfort.

Finecut is handling international sales on the pic. A Traveler’s Needs debuts this evening in competition in Berlin. 

The Berlinale runs until February 25.