Overview
A gripping investigation unfolds as a detective becomes entangled in a web of secrets and desire.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- brooding
- melancholic
- elegant
- late night cinephile viewing
- rainy day
What critics said
Critics broadly praised Park Chan-wook’s exquisitely directed, visually inventive romantic crime mystery as a multilayered achievement, despite some comparisons that found it less daring than his earlier masterpieces.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Jang Hae-joon's police investigation of Song Seo-rae becomes inseparable from his growing fixation on her.
Critics specifically noted the film's flipped mirror images and layered visual hints to character motivation.
The detective's attraction to the widow under investigation drives the film's central moral and romantic tension.
The investigation continually reframes whether the mountain death was an accident, suicide, or murder.
Films like Decision to Leave, and why
The Handmaiden
shares an elegant neo-noir investigation, obsessive romance, moral ambiguity, and psychologically layered storytelling
In the Mood for Love
combines police procedural mystery with forbidden desire, emotional restraint, and stylized visual composition
Vertigo
features a morally ambiguous crime mystery shaped by obsession, deception, and carefully controlled direction
The Lives of Others
offers a romantic crime drama with unreliable motives, visual precision, and a brooding atmosphere
Movie Details
- Director
- Park Chan-wook
- Release Date
- 2022-06-29
- Runtime
- 139 min
- Rating
- 7.3 / 10 (1634)
Cast
- Tang Wei
- Park Hae-il
- Lee Jung-hyun
- Go Kyung-pyo
- Park Yong-woo
- Kim Shin-young
- Yoo Seung-mok
- Jung Yi-seo
- Jung Young-sook
- Lee Hak-ju
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Decision to Leave about?
- A meticulous detective’s fixation on a mysterious widow turns a mountain death investigation into an elegant, doomed romance.
- What is Decision to Leave like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Decision to Leave as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Decision to Leave violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Decision to Leave as mild.
- What did critics think of Decision to Leave?
- Critics broadly praised Park Chan-wook’s exquisitely directed, visually inventive romantic crime mystery as a multilayered achievement, despite some comparisons that found it less daring than his earlier masterpieces.
- Which films are like Decision to Leave?
- Films with a similar feel include The Handmaiden, In the Mood for Love, Vertigo, and The Lives of Others.
- How long is Decision to Leave?
- Decision to Leave runs 139 minutes.
- Where can I watch Decision to Leave?
- In United States, Decision to Leave streams on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel.
