Inyeon? Intriguing Concept From 'Past Lives' Will Change Your View of Fate

A deep childhood bond, a lingering longing and the concept of "inyeon" form the backdrop of Past Lives—an achingly beautiful epic love story about two Korean childhood sweethearts who reconnect decades later—which was this year's breakout hit at the Sundance Film Festival.

But just what is inyeon? The Korean word refers to "something special" between two people, explained Past Lives writer/director Celine Song.

Speaking to Newsweek in London ahead of the film's upcoming international releases, the South Korean-born Canadian playwright and filmmaker said that having an inyeon means "you are connected to each other in lives before this one and also that you will be connected in the lives after this one. And in every lifetime, it's going to mean something a little different."

The word inyeon first appeared in 1281 in Samguk yusa, a collection of legends, folktales and historical accounts relating to the ancient Three Kingdoms of Korea (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla), according to Jennifer Jung-Kim, a lecturer at UCLA in Korean and East Asian studies with a PhD in Korean history. "It is a Buddhist term, so it likely was used even for centuries before then," she told Newsweek.

Christina Hong Huber, a Korean American licensed clinical psychologist based in Washington, D.C., expanded, telling Newsweek that inyeon is "a powerful and appealing notion that two people are destined to meet, possibly over multiple lifetimes."

Indeed, the film's heroine, Nora (played by Greta Lee), tells her future husband Arthur (John Magaro) one evening: "It's an inyeon if two strangers even walk by each other in the street and their clothes accidentally brush, because it means there must have been something between them in their past lives. If two people get married, they say it's because there are then 8,000 layers of inyeon over 8,000 lifetimes." The pair go on to marry in Manhattan after meeting at a writers' retreat.

Inyeon, written as 인연 in Korean, was derived from the Sanskrit words hetu and pratyay. "It can be understood as the sum of one's actions that directly and indirectly lead to a specific reaction," Jung-Kim noted.

Essentially, inyeon means fate, karma or destiny, the lecturer concluded.

Past Lives was inspired by the real-life story of Song, who moved to Canada as a child before heading to New York City where she earned a MFA playwriting degree at Columbia University.

But in Song's award-winning directorial debut—which is also already being touted for Oscars in various categories—it is the destiny of Nora and Hae-seong that takes center stage. After they are torn apart when Nora's parents emigrate from South Korea to Canada, they finally find themselves in the same city for the first time 24 years later.

Song's film infers it is inyeon that brings Hae-seong and Nora to later search for each other and reunite in New York City, which leaves them, as well as Nora's now husband Arthur, questioning the path they've ended up on and with whom they were ultimately meant to be.

Does Inyeon Determine the Choices We Make in Life?

Owing to the word's long history and Korean culture's deep respect for ancestry and wisdom passed down from generations before, this idea that life is destined to flow a certain way, including the people we meet and the relationships we form, is relatively commonplace in the lives of many Koreans today.

Song said that in some ways, the concept is "almost an everyday trivial thing" that's spoken of often among Koreans. For example, sitting together at this London hotel, "in some way, you and I are both connected just because we're in the same room at the same time, right in this way, and that's enough for inyeon."

**Spoiler alert: The following paragraphs contain several spoilers from the Past Lives film.***

Jung-Kim, who is also the assistant director of the UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies, explained: "In the film, Nora may also be using a homophone of the word, 人緣 (also inyeon), which is often used to refer to human ties or relationships. The two forms of inyeon, however, are homophones and have different meanings but people do conflate the two terms because they sound the same."

The concept may be more romanticized in the film, but inyeon is not limited to positive connections. Koreans are just as likely to conclude that a relationship or situation was a "bad inyeon" or say "I hope that our inyeon ends here."

While inyeon might be built into the subconscious of the culture as a way to accept the outcome of relationships or situations, that doesn't necessarily mean Koreans don't believe in creating their inyeon or destiny, or at least hoping for a "good inyeon" with a person they come across in life.

Past Lives continues to witness Nora, Hae-seong and Arthur wrestle with the question of whether their lives turned out the way they were meant to be and whether different choices could have led them to another path.

Arthur wonders whether Nora was meant to live out a grand love story with Hae-seong, telling her: "I just can't compete...childhood sweethearts who reconnect 20 years later and realize they were meant for each other...in the story I would be the evil white American husband standing in the way of destiny."

Nora later replies: "This is my life and I'm living it with you...this is where I ended up, this is where I'm supposed to be."

Gloria Zhang, a registered psychotherapist, relationship coach and host of The Inner Child podcast, told Newsweek that embracing the idea of inyeon in our relationships—and rejecting "fantasies" about fate—could help us navigate our relationships today.

"When we focus on anything other than the current relationship, we are in love with a fantasy and not the real human being in front of us. And by pouring love into 'your person' we get to create our own destiny through choices of love," she said.

Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and author of the forthcoming book 13 Things Mentally Strong Couples Don't Do, agreed, telling Newsweek that people who find themselves constantly looking at other romantic options, wondering how much better their lives might be if they were with another person, "tend to be unhappier in relationships."

"People in happier relationships focus on their partner, making the best of the relationship they have, rather than constantly looking for attractive alternatives," she said.

Jung-Kim said: "The way I understood the message of the film, despite the childhood that Nora and Hae-seong shared, and that they rediscovered each other, it is Nora and Arthur who ended up together, and thus that is their fate. If Nora and Hae-seong were the destined couple, they would have found each other earlier."

'A Soothing Rationale During an Unexplainable Situation'

Psychologist Hong Huber, who is also a clinical professor of psychology at The George Washington University, says that "fate and destiny is often alluded to in romantic relationships and romanticized in our media."

According to the psychologist, this reinforces the idea of fate being the reason that you found "the one" and "how fate favors certain people," such as those meeting their spouse on their first dating app date, and "punishes others," such as "those who have used every dating app to no avail."

However, fate and destiny can also "provide us a soothing rationale during an unexplainable situation," she added.

She said: "Because a lot is outside of our control in relationships, and as humans we crave to understand why things happen the way they do, many choose to lean on the concept of fate and destiny to rationalize things that may not make sense to us."

For example, let's say you thought you met your life partner / best friend and then they suddenly end things. "Your rational mind cannot make sense of it, so an abstract concept like fate and destiny helps us process, cope and heal with the loss," she said.

"On the flip side, after many failed relationships, finally meeting someone who connects on all levels feels as if we were fated to meet them."

Although it may be less talked about in these contexts, the concept of fate and destiny is also relevant to platonic or familial relationships, the psychologist added.

In the film, sitting at a bar with Hae-seong, Arthur reflects on how he never imagined he'd be having drinks with his wife's childhood first love and tells Hae-seong, "You and me, we're inyeon too."

Earlier in the same bar setting, in one of the movie's most telling scenes, Hae-seong and Nora share an intimate conversation, reflecting on the meaning and limitations of their inyeon.

Hae-seong admits that his 12-year-old self truly loved Nora and that he "didn't know it would be this painful" to see that her husband is "a great person." He later tells her: "In this life, you're meant to be with Arthur...with whom you have 8,000 layers of inyeon..."

Indeed, this is exactly the point which director Song wanted to explore, telling Newsweek that Hae-seong and Nora share "a deep inyeon that lasts decades" and he flew 14 hours from South Korea to see her, but "they're not an inyeon in this life, not in that kind of romantic inyeon."

"But if you think about the inyeon that she has with her husband, all that happened was that he just said hi to her one day and then they got married. What kind of inyeon is that? Well, it's a very strong one in this life," she said.

The film's heartrending final scene sees Nora and Hae-seong locked in a trance, staring at each other while awaiting his taxi ride to the airport, with their silence filled by echoes of words unspoken and the murmuring beats of the city, Song's sweeping views of which also make this piece a love letter to New York.

The trance is broken as the car arrives and before getting in, Hae-seong tells Nora: "If this is a past life, wouldn't that mean we're already a different inyeon in the next life?"

As Nora replies, "I really don't know," Hae-seong says, "Let's meet then [in the next life]" as he drives off in the taxi.

Past Lives is available on digital platforms including Amazon Prime, Google Play, i-Tunes and Virgin Media, from today, December 1, and on Blu-ray and DVD from December 4.

Update 12/8/23, 3:38 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from writer/director Celine Song.