Past Lives begins with its three main characters viewed from a distance. Nora Moon (Greta Lee), Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), and Arthur (John Magaro) are seated at a bar, and unseen patrons across the way speculate on who they are to one another. After a few guesses, those observers give up, thoroughly perplexed by the dynamic they’re witnessing. For the remainder of the film, writer-director Celine Song ensures anyone watching knows that trio intimately. The story mostly follows Nora and Hae Sung, who’ve known each other since they were children in South Korea (Seung Ah Moon and Seung Min Yim play the younger versions of the characters). After her family moves to North America, they fall out of touch, occasionally reconnecting over the years, including a stretch as young adults when they develop something close to a romantic relationship through long-distance, internet-enabled communication. That doesn’t last, and Nora marries Arthur. When they are perched at the bar, it’s because Hae Sung has finally paid a visit to the U.S., clearly pining for a version of his life that didn’t happen. What could easily be melodramatic is instead delicate and impressively mature in Song’s rendering. Her cinematic storytelling is impeccable, developing understanding through refined visuals that are supplemented by artful dialogue. She practically embeds with the characters as they seek to understand the predicaments they’re in and their places in these existences that overlap. A scene where Nora and Arthur lie together in bed and discuss the potential ramifications of Hae Sung’s visit is a strikingly realistic depiction of how a committed, stable, mutually honest couple works through their concerns. “Being an adult meant watching many possible versions of yourself whittle into just one,” Leslie Jamison writes in her latest book, and if Past Lives has a moral, it might be that. If that’s a somewhat melancholy truth, it’s also a comforting one. The paths not taken aren’t lost opportunities; they are merely part of setting the route to the here and now. Song’s beautiful film argues that the most important attribute of the past is that it helps us to reach the present where we belong.