Lovers' Concerto is a 2002 South Korean film directed by Lee Han. It is a romantic melodrama dealing with friendship, jealousy and the ties that bind.
The film starts with Ji-hwan opening a handmade letter. It has no address or name written on it. Inside, is a black-and-white photo of happy children playing. We learn that he has been receiving several of these for some time.
Flashback to five years earlier. Ji-hwan is a literature undergraduate who works at a cafe. His hobby is photography. He tests his speed at putting together his camera and manages to beat his previous record. Looking into his viewfinder, he glimpses a beautiful face. As he attempts to take a picture of this girl smelling a rose, another girl, Gyung-hee, accidentally walks into the frame. She apologises for spoiling his shot. Then she and her friend, Soo-in, the one whom he saw earlier, sit at the cafe to eat. Ji-hwan watches them, having fallen in love with Soo-in at first sight.
The pair eventually leave the cafe. On a whim, Ji-hwan chases after their taxi on his bicycle. Gyung-hee feels hungry despite having eaten so recently so they stop at another cafe. Ji-hwan musters up his courage to confess his love to Soo-in. Gyung-hee is amused but Soo-in tells Ji-hwan that he is making her uncomfortable. Disappointed, Ji-hwan leaves the cafe but stops when he sees a clock shop. The girls are still in the cafe when they receive a note from a waiter. They turn and see Ji-hwan in the window, holding a clock in front of his face. They read the note. In it Ji-hwan says that he has turned the clock back by one hour and asks them to forget his love confession. But he hopes that the next time they meet, they will be friends. They yell their names to each other and then Ji-hwan runs off shyly, with the girls amused at his child-like antics.
Ji-hwan watches a soccer match between Japan and South Korea. The two girls appear and ask to join him. During the match, Ji-hwan sneaks looks at Soo-in but is caught out by Gyung-hee. As the match heats up, the trio become increasingly excited and when South Korea wins, they give each other high fives. Their friendship is now sealed.
Soo-in asks Gyung-hee to sleep over at her home. We learn that the two of them have been best friends since young. Gyung-hee is very energetic and outgoing. Soo-in is more reserved and shy. Soo-in is picking out clothes to give to Gyung-hee. When Gyung-hee protests, she says that she is losing weight although she does nothing. Gyung-hee tries to take her mind off this. They then have a conversation about kissing.
The next scenes are a montage of the trio's activities together and show them having a lot of fun. At a movie theater, they watch Il Postino when Ji-hwan realises Soo-in is not enjoying the movie. He realises that the man sitting behind her has placed his foot on the back of her seat. Standing up, he asks the man to remove his foot. At first, he refuses and a fight seems imminent. Gyung-hee and Soo-in stand up to back Ji-hwan up. Upon a second request, he relents and moves to another seat. Ji-hwan sits back down and his shaking lets on just how afraid he was. The two girls are impressed. Onscreen, a male character says, "I'm in love. It hurts but I want it to go on hurting."
Soo-in recommends the movie to her parents. Staring dreamily into space, she recites the aforementioned lines. Similarly, Gyung-hee starts reciting the same lines while on a bus. Both girls are obviously falling for Ji-hwan.
In the present, Ji-hwan visits his senior at the cafe where he used to work. He is passed a box of Ji-hwan's old photos. Ji-hwan says that he has not seen the girls for years and describes how his memories of them faded away to the point that he could not tell whether they were a figment of his imagination. He opens the box and sees a photograph of the three of them.
Flashback to the moment captured in the photograph. They are hanging out at the cafe. The girls are using personality tests in a magazine to find out his personality type. Ji-hwan leaves them to work on some errand. Gyung-hee tells Soo-in to go join him. When she is alone, she asks Ji-hwan for his blood type. Using this information, she looks up his predicted girlfriend type, which agrees with her personality type. Ji-hwan's senior joins her and she quickly hides the magazine. The two look out the window at Ji-hwan working happily with Soo-in and Ji-hwan's senior comments that Ji-hwan is extremely lucky for falling in love at first sight and having that love returned. Gyung-hee is hurt by this.
As Gyung-hee and Soo-in are walking home, they have a quarrel over Ji-hwan, ending with Gyung-hee accusing Soo-in of always acting weak to get attention. Soo-in, extremely hurt, returns home alone and says that she too is confused about the situation. She hears a pebble thrown at her window, looks out and sees Gyung-hee looking repentant. They decide to join Ji-hwan on a road trip despite their parents' objections.
On one of the nights in the tent, Soo-in watches Ji-hwan sleeping. She brings her hand to caress a mole on his ear. Later, the same night, Ji-hwan wakes up to find Soo-in missing. Gyung-hee is sucking her thumb in her sleep. Ji-hwan gets the urge to kiss her but stops at the last moment. He is very perplexed about his emotions.
In the morning, he finds Soo-in and they share stories about their first loves. Soo-in relates how she used to stay in a hospital when she was young. While there, she met a boy who was very sick but never complained about his condition. Instead, he took the opportunity to make mischief whenever he could. One time, he played a trick on the nurses and hid in her room. They became fast friends after that. Soo-in told everyone to call her by the boy's name in the belief that if she had his name, he would never truly leave her.
The trio sit on a hill looking at the scenery. Gyung-hee comments that it would look very beautiful in winter. They make a pact to return in winter time. It starts raining. Soo-in is very very cold and the others try to warm her up but she asks to stay a little longer. Ji-hwan carries her on her back and runs down the slope. They bring her to a hotel for her to recover from her cold. As Ji-hwan and Gyung-hee sit together on the balcony, Gyung-hee starts crying. She then scolds Ji-hwan for being uncomfortable due to her crying and kicks his legs until he has to trap her feet with his legs. The two of them kiss tentatively.
They return to Seoul. Ji-hwan and Gyung-hee are out together. Ji-hwan asks about Soo-in and Gyung-hee tells him that she is still in bed recovering. Ji-hwan makes the comment that being alone with Gyung-hee feels weird, almost like a date. Gyung-hee turns very moody and decides to go to a bar. She drinks a lot and when Ji-hwan tries to stop her, she scolds him, telling him that he shouldn't try to control her since he is not her boyfriend.
Gyung-hee and Soo-in meet Ji-hwan at a party held at the cafe. Soo-in is still ill. She goes to sing a song about the two people she loves most in the world, Ji-hwan and Gyung-hee. Ji-hwan and Gyung-hee are uncomfortable. After the song, Soo-in decides to leave early and asks Ji-hwan to walk her out. She asks him to close his eyes, then proceeds to feel his face, memorising its shape. Then she goes home.
Ji-hwan writes a letter to Soo-in, confessing that he is in love with Gyung-hee. Gyung-hee interrupts him. He gives her the letter, telling her to pass it to Soo-in and not to read it. Gyung-hee takes it reluctantly. She tells him to go before she gets into the taxi. Then, she slowly opens the letter, stops and then tears it up.
Gyung-hee visits Soo-in in the intensive care unit. Soo-in reads out a letter that she wrote to Gyung-hee. In it she tells Gyung-hee how she has been brave while receiving two injections and undergoing hemodialysis. Soo-in gives Gyung-hee a sealed letter to be given to Ji-hwan.
Ji-hwan receives a call and meets Gyung-hee at a bar. He asks about Gyung-hee's bandaged hand and about Soo-in. Gyung-hee tells him that the two of them have become uncomfortable around him. He agrees and tells her to leave if she has nothing else to say. Hours later, he stumbles out of the bar and falls in the snow. He punches the ground in anger and passes out. The next day, he finds himself in his room, with his hand bandaged.
In the present, Ji-hwan decides to search for the two girls. He visits their old high school and talks to a teacher who was also their old schoolmate. She tells him how they were envied and pitied by the whole school. They always missed classes because they were both very sick. Soo-in left Seoul and Gyung-hee died. Ji-hwan is shocked but decides to look for Soo-in.
He traces the letter he received to the location where the photo was taken. He hears his name called and turns around to find some children calling a dog. He smiles and greets the children.
A neighbour calls to a girl, telling her that they found Ji-hwan and she says," That's good." The camera reveals that it is Gyung-hee (Lee Eun Joo). She has lost a lot of weight and acts less lively, subdued even. She pushes her latest photograph into a handmade envelope and slips it under her bed.
Flashback to Soo-in's story about her first love. The little boy that she fell in love with has grown long hair and is actually a girl, who becomes her best friend. The two girls exchange names so that they can always be together. Therefore, Soo-in's real name is Gyung-hee and vice versa. But when they enter high school, the two of them have to use their official names which is why the teacher told Ji-hwan that Gyung-hee (Son Ye-Jin) died.
Gyung-hee walks out to find her dog, Ji-hwan. Instead, she finds the real Ji-hwan playing with the children. He sees her and walks towards her. In a very touching scene, he reaches out his hand and caresses her face and she does the same to him. The little tykes tease Gyung-hee for having a boyfriend, causing Ji-hwan to carry her on his back and run away from them.
At Ji-hwan's seniors wedding, the couple are congratulated for having found each other again. They take a photo together.
Ji-hwan opens a sealed letter. It is the one from Soo-in (Son Ye-Jin) that never made its way to him. In it, she says that she knows that he is in love with Gyung-hee and wishes them the best. She includes some tips on how handle Gyung-hee. Then she says that she may be going to a very far off place but she will carry the memory of them with her.
Flashblack to Soo-in, looking very weak, tells Gyung-hee that she loves her. Gyung-hee replies that she loves Soo-in back. Soo-in then passes away. Upon discovering Soo-in's death, Gyung-hee climbs into the bed and pulls the covers over the both of them. Later at Soo-in's funeral, she takes down the clock, smashes open the glass face and turns back the hands of the clock with her own bloodied hands, all the while crying uncontrollably.
Flashback to Gyung-hee treating and bandaging the unconscious Ji-hwan's hand. She kisses him and then leaves.
Ji-hwan opens up another letter. This time it's from Gyung-hee. She confesses that she tore up his letter to Soo-in and is relieved now that she has gotten rid of that burden. She thanks him for his kindness and passing on the love of photography to her. She thanks him for accepting her awkward kiss a long time ago. Then she says that she has been feeling very weak (Ji-hwan is crying by this time). We see Gyung-hee wiping away some blood from her nose. As the camera pans to the beautiful blue sky, her voiceover says that she will be seeing Soo-in soon. "Goodbye Ji-hwan. I loved you before and I love you now. Goodbye."
The last scene is the three of them in happier times, taking a photograph.
