A Moment to Remember

Synopsis

The first act of the film introduces the protagonists, a woman named Su-jin and a man named Chul-soo. The movie highlights their accidental meeting, followed by their subsequent courting despite their difference in social status that should have kept them apart. Kim Su-jin is a 27-year-old fashion designer, spurned by her lover, a colleague who was also a married man. Depressed, she goes to a convenience store, where she bumps into a tall, handsome man with whom she has a slight misunderstanding. Following that, she returns home and, receiving her father's forgiveness, decides to start life afresh.

One day while accompanying her father, who is the CEO of a construction firm, she coincidentally meets the man whom she earlier bumped into at the convenience store. He is Choi Chul-soo, the construction site's foreman who is studying to become an architect. Though he initially appears like a rough and dirty construction worker, Chul-soo exudes sheer masculinity in its most basic physical form. Su-jin instantly takes a liking to Chul-soo and actively courts him. There are many sweet events that take place in the occurrence of their courtship, eventually leading to their marriage.

The second act follows the couple happily settling into married life, with Chul-soo designing their dream house and Su-jin learning to become a housewife. As time passes, however, Su-jin begins to display forgetfulness, including an incident in which a fire breaks out because of a stove she'd forgotten to turn off. While Chul-soo caught the fire in time, the seriousness of the incident and others like it leads them to seek medical help.

The third act deals with Su-jin's early-onset Alzheimer's disease diagnosis, and the couple's consequent response to it. Su-jin at first experiences denial, then becomes heavily burdened by the knowledge that she will forget her husband. Nevertheless, they make the commitment to stay together and as the disease progresses, the trials the couple go through increase because of Su-jin's deteriorating memory. Finally, Su-jin makes the decision to leave their home and check herself into an assisted facility.

Despite his grief, Chul-soo remains at Su-jin's side even when she doesn't remember him, hiding his eyes behind sunglasses when he visits her so she can't see his tears. At the end of the film, Chul-soo reenacts the first time they met in the convenience store, with all of Su-jin's friends and family there. In the final scene, Su-jin is riding in a car beside her husband at sunset, and he tells her, "I love you."

Cast

Remake

On October 22, 2008 it was reported that CBS Films had secured the rights for an American remake, with Susannah Grant attached to write the screenplay. After a turnaround, it was announced in February 2013 that Scott Pictures will produce and finance along with Sobini Films and Film 360. The film will be directed by Ben Lewin and Katherine Heigl has been cast as the female lead.

Similar plot

Other works inspired by this film with plots involving the female protagonist diagnosed with Alzheimer's while her husband stands by her, include: