Eight years after the release of his critical breakthrough “Burning” (Cambridge Day’s pick for the best film of 2018), South Korean director Lee Chang-dong returns with another sprawling, intricately sketched character study. Cho Yeo-jong ( “Parasite”) plays Lee Ye-ji, a well-to-do documentary filmmaker with an interest in social justice; her husband, Sang-woo (Zo In-sung), is a wealthy investor, but she insists on “honestly” funding her films through public grants. While making a film about a local factory that laid off 40% of its workforce, Ye-ji finds her camera drawn to Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu), who suffers from PTSD following a violent, unsuccessful sit-down strike, and his wife, Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon). Ye-ji strikes up a friendship with Mi-ok, while slowly drawing Ho-seok out of his shell to sit down for an interview. As the two couples become closer, however, the class fissures between them become more and more apparent.

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Over the course of its nearly three-hour running time, “Possible Love” unfolds with a patience that never comes off as slow or indulgent. Rather, Lee takes his time to let us get to know his four central characters, parceling out information and allowing us to take in their quiet, human moments. Seemingly simple images which are introduced early in the film — a rainbow in the spray of a garden hose, a full moon on a cloudless night — are repeated to devastating effect in its final hour. The film’s revelations are so powerful, yet so understated, that it is clear we’re in the hands of a master storyteller.

The release of “Possible Love”’is serendipitous, coming as it does on the heels of movie-of-the-moment “You Can See Everything.” As in that film, Lee explores the ethical dilemmas inherent in documentary filmmaking, but where “Everything” muses on the perceived reality of its subjects, “Love” turns a critical eye on its central filmmakers. As they grow closer to their subjects, Sang-woo playfully chides Ye-ji for “method acting,” downplaying her own wealth and assuming the mannerisms of the working class; Ye-ji protests, but one can tell she knows her husband has a point. In a dry running gag, Ye-ji’s camera inevitably appears in the background whenever Ho-seok and Mi-ok attempt to have a serious conversation. The moral ambiguity of the filmmakers is, perhaps, borne of the director’s own self-reflection; that there is a “Director Lee” both in front of and behind the camera may not be coincidental.

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The film’s central conflict between the workers and their one-time employer is so richly realized that one might forget they’re not actually watching a documentary. Much of what we learn about the SP Heavy Industries strike comes from the mouths of its characters, speaking in sit-down interviews with Ye-ji. The divide between “the dead” — those laid off following the company’s private equity-induced restructuring — and the “living” still employed is strikingly real, and I would not be surprised to learn that the characters’ descriptions of their struggles are based on actual interviews.

At the heart of the film is Jeon Do-yeon, who gives one of the most nuanced and moving performances of the year as Mi-ok. Though Mi-ok is less directly affected by the layoffs than Ho-seok (she remains employed, and is even emboldened by Ye-ji’s presence to unionize the four workers at the small PPE factory where she works), she is acutely aware of both the toll the strike has taken on her husband and the vast chasm of wealth between herself and her new friends. Mi-ok is at once resilient and fragile, able to take her situation in stride while remaining achingly sad at the knowledge of what she can’t have. “Possible Love” is Mi-ok’s story, but it’s also the story of millions around the world, and it will linger in your mind long after you leave the theater.

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