Celine Song says ‘Past Lives’ shows how memory can change laws of physics: ‘That’s what’s amazing about how we can live through time and space’

Celine Song says ‘Past Lives’ shows how memories can bend the laws of physics.

Her hit romantic drama, which has been hailed as one of the best movies of the year, follows Nora (played by Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), who meet as mutual crushes growing up in South Korea but are separated when Nora moves to Canada at age 12.

‘Past Lives’ follows them at 12-year intervals, which includes an Internet re-connection and an in-person reunion after Nora has moved to New York and married a fellow writer.

Celine, 35, told NME: “The physics of time and space are unchangeable. We have to go through time and space at the same speed as anyone else.

“But you can sometimes exist outside, or underneath, or above it, just by being able to imagine someone you knew as a child.”

The director added to her interviewer: “I didn’t know you when you were 12, but if you’re talking to somebody who (did), and I asked that person, ‘Can you believe it, he used to be 12?’ – immediately you know that person could be immediately transported to that time, and they’d be able to see you as a 12-year-old. That’s the amazing power we all have, to see another part of a person’s story in a different time or space… maybe 20 years from now, (when) we’re talking about like, my tenth movie or my twentieth movie, and I’ll be like, ‘Remember when we first met?’ And I’ll just see you right here.

“And I think that’s what’s amazing about how we can live through time and space.”

Celine added she loves checking the ticket sales at cinemas of ‘Past Lives’, saying: “I love that it’s still playing all day! I do this thing where I look (online) at how many people are there and where they’re sitting.

“So I can pretend to choose seats and see how they’re filled. I love seeing, like, five people seeing it alone, or six couples. You can see the 9.50am screening, and see there’s literally one person sitting there, and another person sitting there. That’s so special!

“I hope they talk afterwards! Or maybe they just walk away and never see each other again.”