When I Sleep 2025 Movie Review

『At the End of a Long, Wavering Day』

🎥 Film Overview

🎬 Title: When I Sleep (내가 누워 있을 때, 2025)
🌍 Country: 🇰🇷 South Korea
🎞️ Genre: Drama / Road Movie / Independent Film
🗓️ Production & Distribution: Cinema Dal Co., Ltd. & Moony Film joint production/distribution
⏳ Runtime: 116 minutes
📢 Director: Choi Jung-moon
🖋️ Screenplay: Choi Jung-moon
📺 Platform: Theatrical Release

👩‍💼 Cast: Woori – Jisoo, Jeong Ji-in – Seon-ah, Late Park Bo-ram – Bomi

🧩 In-Depth Story Exploration (Spoilers)

🚗 An Unexpected Journey Reveals Hidden Truths

“When I Sleep” tells the story of three women—Seon-ah (Jeong Ji-in), Jisoo (Woori), and Bomi (Park Bo-ram)—each carrying different wounds and struggles. They embark on a sudden trip to visit Jisoo's parents’ graves but experience a car accident along the way and end up spending a night in a remote inn. Their journey is not just a road movie, but a psychological journey where secrets are revealed and wounds are healed.

As Choi Jung-moon’s first feature film, it delicately and realistically addresses discrimination, stigma, and invisible suffering faced by women in post-MeToo Korean society.

👥 Complex Wounds of Three Women

The film highlights the various types of loss and grief borne by the three protagonists, shedding light on universal aspects of women's experiences.

• Seon-ah: She is a victim of workplace sexism and misogynistic scrutiny. Her secret romance with a superior leads colleagues to accuse her of "", undermining her professional achievements. During the journey, Seon-ah is forced to confront the wounds she had previously tried to ignore.
• Jisoo: She suffers from the trauma of being outed as a sexual minority. Growing up relying on her cousin Seon-ah, the pain she experienced when her same-sex relationship was exposed in high school left deep anxiety. Jisoo yearns for honesty and stability in her relationships.
• Bomi: She endured the profound grief of a stillbirth due to her boyfriend’s negligence but was unable to properly mourn, suppressing her sorrow. Behind her quirky and lively exterior, she experiences a sense of loss and guilt like a phantom, enduring her pain alone.

🛣️ The Intersection of Road Drama and Chamber Play

The film uniquely combines the openness of a road drama with the tension of a chamber play.

• Meaning of the Journey: The trip provides a physical and psychological safe space where the three women can be honest with each other. The sudden car accident and conflicts with the inn’s owner (a former gangster-like man) symbolically represent the external threats they face.
• Psychological Space of the Inn Room: The unfamiliar inn room becomes a chamber where their inner selves confront each other. Conversations over drinks and sleepless nights on the same bed break down their walls and bring hidden pain to the surface. The question, "Tonight, can we sleep in our own room?" goes beyond physical safety, asking whether emotional stability and peace can be achieved.

✨ Solidarity and Healing: Sharing Grief at Night

The central message of this film is sisterhood and collective mourning of grief.

• Mutual Healing: Despite their wounds being entirely different, Seon-ah, Jisoo, and Bomi form deep bonds through the common denominator of societal stigma and the pain of being women. The scene where Jisoo and Seon-ah comfort Bomi after her stillbirth illustrates how sharing unspeakable sorrow can become a form of healing.
• Growth and Acceptance: At the end of a long day, they learn through each other how to accept themselves as they are. The film focuses on sharing a life of "wobbling yet enduring" rather than seeking dramatic resolutions.

🌟 Delicate and Authentic Women’s Narrative

“When I Sleep” emphasizes characters’ inner lives and emotional arcs over dramatic events, building a delicate and authentic women’s narrative characteristic of Korean independent cinema. As the last work of the late Park Bo-ram, the film conveys a warm perspective on life, death, loss, and mourning through her portrayal of Bomi, leaving a profound resonance. The message that women can only find peaceful 'sleep' when leaning on each other resonates strongly with audiences.

🎯 Personal Rating (Preference-Based)

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★