Between the Seasons

Between the Seasons is definitely a borderline WLW movie. The dynamic between the two female leads never becomes romantic, it’s essentially a one-sided crush. But given the characters in question, this is definitely for the best.

The quiet Han Hae-soo (Lee Young-jin) arrives in a new town to open a cafe. She’s not only accepted by the community, but becomes overwhelmed by the amount of customers. One of these customers is Yejin (Yoon Hye-ree), a high school student with a high caffeine tolerance. After helping out at the shop one day, Hae-soo offers Yejin a job. Yejin eagerly accepts, her crush on Hae-soo already becoming apparent. But while Yejin yearns for Hae-soo, Hae-soo has her own story. She’s starting over fresh after leaving her previous life behind. And the reasoning for this is something she’s scared to share with anyone. Hae-soo has her own romance, with a local man. But she constantly holds him at a distance out of fear on how he’ll react to her secret.

I’m going to spoil it now. Here’s the secret: Hae-soo is trans. She moved from Seoul to start a new life after her transition. The film leaves moderately sized hints throughout the film before this revelation. Hae-soo has a daily regime of medication. She doesn’t have menstrual products to offer to Yejin. She constantly wears a scarf to hide her Adam’s apple, even after surgery. I’ll admit, that last one was a bit of a let down. I see a woman always wearing something on her neck and I think of the classic horror story, “The Green Ribbon”. I was a bit bummed when the scarf came off but her head stayed on. Overall, the film does good in depicting small moments in Hae-soo’s life as both clues to this reveal and texture into the life of its main character.

While both leads are LGBT, the WLW content comes from Yejin alone. Hae-soo never indulges Yejin’s crush. There are moments where she oversteps a boundary, such as sharing a bed with Yejin. But overall, Hae-soo handles the situation really well. Yejin isn’t ready for a relationship with an adult. This is in spite or really, because of the intensity of her feelings. Yejin’s crush manifests through some mild stalking and possessive behaviour. Her feelings for someone she sees as mature very much depicts her own immaturity. Yejin spurns the option to date a girl her own age in favour of her fantasy of Hae-soo and their relationship. Yejin still has a lot of growing up to do. And by the end of the movie, she’s done some of it and is well on her way to being an adult who can have a healthy romance.

What Between the Seasons shows is the silence and isolation being LGBT can bring. Despite the obviousness of her crush, Yejin struggles for ages to admit her feelings to Hae-soo. And it’s not because of the age thing, it’s because of the gay thing. Hae-soo of course has a similar problem. She hasn’t told anyone in her new life that she’s trans. Both of these characters clearly feel such an incredible sense of isolation. It’s one of the reasons they’re brought together. But the closer their relationship grows, in some ways it becomes harder to come out. A stranger rejecting you is one thing. But someone you trust and you like? A rejection from them would be devastating. So, for most of Between the Seasons, Hae-soo and Yejin exist in the same space but keep a tight lid on their true feelings and identities.

Between the Seasons is a small, sad and hopeful slice of life movie. It’s not the most exciting sit, but it’s not trying to be. It’s a good depiction of both the isolation of the queer identity and the hope of being accepted and finding people who care. The WLW aspect is slightly less prominent in the film given that the main character is Hae-soo and she seems to be straight. But Yejin’s big, obvious crush is here to provide representation for unhinged teen lesbian crushes everywhere.

Overall rating: 6.7/10

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