I once saw a Hong Sang Soo film in 2014, Hill of Freedom, about a Japanese man in Korea. A prolific filmmaker, Hong returns to the ‘foreigner in Korea’ plot with last year’s A Traveler’s Needs. This time, the foreigner is Iris (Isabelle Huppert), who freelances as an English and French teacher with unconventional methods. I write ‘unconventional’ because she believes that fluency comes from expressing emotions more than it expresses utilitarian needs. When a student uses the word ‘annoyed’, she lets them dig deeper instead of diverting the subject matter. She has the same philosophy within her home life, living with a younger boyfriend, In-guk (Ha Seong-guk). Their conversations are equally wild, a quality that In-guk’s mom Yeon-hee (Cho Yun-hee) notices, making her ask questions.

It goes without saying that any film with Isabelle Huppert has her giving a performance for the ages. Either she’s conveying unbearable loss (Things to Come, White Material) or giving camp for us gays (8 Women). Again, this time around, she’s being an active listener, letting the other actors and the writing shine bright. During one of the lessons, one of her students, Won-ju (Lee Hye-young), talks about her ‘faulty’ guitar playing. Iris responds, asking if Won-ju feels proud of her guitar playing, a slight diversion, a positive spin. The screenwriting proves Hong and Iris’ point about language immersion, that fluency goes beyond asking about bathrooms, etc. A Traveler’s Needs shows what happens when characters discuss things they wouldn’t in their native languages.

Hong’s other film don’t feel physical in an outward sense, and that’s still true for A Traveler’s Needs. But there’s a cognizance here of bodies and how small things affect characters’ bodies, little by little. There’s a running gag here about Iris’ love for rice wine, a love that some of her students share also. Another subtly comedic scene comes from Iris accidentally stepping on In-guk’s foot to work a machine. My tendency to read too much into films work here, and I imagine other reading a lot into that too. Iris steps on In-guk’s foot the same way overstep their welcome in the countries where they visit. But even with this, the film frames Iris as a benevolent character even if she raises some eyebrows.

A Traveler’s Needs also has Hong Sang Soo showing how good he is at building up a scene. What starts out as In-Guk describing how he meets Iris turns into Yeon-hee’s full meltdown. Cho excellently gives viewers the kind of emotional highs we expect from cinema from Asia. And in doing so, Hong gives us two interpretations of what the word emotion kind of means. There’s the emotion that we have to dig up and the one that bubbles up after some provocation. Even with this occasional emotional high, this makes it seem like a film full of heightened drama. But there’s still something easy about this film just like others describe it in writing, effortless and resplendent, one that lets us provokes thought.

Stream A Traveler’s Needs on MUBI.