Tell Me That You Love Me (2023)

A substantial, mature and exceptionally beautiful love story

For me this is my highlight of 2023.

As a phenomenal firework of quiet nuances, “Tell Me That You Love Me” is exuding soulful warmth in graceful silence while creating a soothing atmosphere that takes root deep in the heart. Accompanied by a soundtrack with pulling effect, that could hardly be more harmonious, sincere feelings are conveyed via looks and gestures, while words and thoughts are frequently communicated in sign language, thus telling a story, that knows how to gently touch the audience.

It's not about appearance, facade, coat and make-up, but about essence. Approaching the substantial is exactly what makes this production so exceptional for a KDrama. With Jung Woo-sung, who is once again breathing pure authenticity, certainly a perfect casting for the ML. He also seems to having actually communicated in sign language most of his life. But Shin Hyun-been was also able to effortlessly impress me with her reflected presence. What a couple!

Calm aesthetics and gentle pace intensify the profoundness of the encounters, which opens up spaces for the essential. Even if trenches between the worlds of the hearing and the deaf may be deep and ample at times, loving encounter is still possible. Even if the feelings for each other may be deep and honest, specific barriers inevitably remain. “Tell Me That You Love Me” is gently approaching the dilemma - a desire to face the challenge with confidence, but on the other hand the fear of failure considering the barriers and therefore wanting to run away.

I´d say, anyone who can open up to this rather idiosyncratic “language” of this KDrama will be rewarded by a substantial, mature and exceptionally beautiful love story.

Leia Mais

It’s a mature and melancholic love story so worth the watch!

I adored the calming vibes, soft music, the poetic dialogues, the wonderful aesthetics and most importantly, our heartwarming main couple; Jin Woo and Mo Eun are both flawed and have their own struggles, so empathizing with them requires zero effort. Although the pacing is quite slow, it's never boring as their relationship develops in a very natural way.

Of course, they have doubts and anxiety of not understanding each other, especially when they start seeing how different they are. Miscommunications in personal feelings, family matters... are unavoidable, but it never feels long-winded and frustrating. Watching them interact is just beautiful. Jin Woo conveys his emotions through impactful sign language and his thoughtfulness are shown through his care towards Mo Eun. Then, Mo Eun, even when she cannot exchange dialogues with Jin Woo due to her shortcomings in sign language, she makes efforts to comfort him. Their story gives me all the feels and that's all I could ask for. The drama overall left me feeling hopeful.

-Jan 2024, Yovita
Find me on Instagram: @kdramajudge

Leia Mais

Quite nice....until one scene.

I am new member, and I am as well new to korean dramas world and maybe I am not as forgiving as rest of K-drama fans...but.
The scene where FL makes ML feel guilty and sorry about his disability and he apologized her for that...made me drop the show. Disability is something we don't need to apologize for and feel sorry for especially towards partner.

And just like that, with just one scene, I lost all interest in the story. And that is a pity, because JWS is superb in his role. The soundtrack is wonderful, the work of cameras just great. Just pity, to destroy superb drama with lack of sensitivity.

Leia Mais

To tell you the truth, the moment I saw you for the first time I knew I would fall in love with you

A drama full of emotion. I did not watch the Japanese version, but I really liked the story, the actors’ performances, and the music was calm
There was a sense of sadness in the series. I felt sad in most of the scenes?
, how misunderstanding destroys the relationship and that love requires courage.....

16 episodes. I lived the atmosphere of Cha Jin and Mo Eun’s relationship. I enjoyed the story and the narration was touching. At the beginning, we lived the atmosphere of the beginnings like any relationship, and how Mo Eun is passionate about her love and that Cha Jin loves her, but he was not able to convey his feelings to Mo Eun because he had a previous painful love story. Also, after his ex-girlfriend returned, he had an impact on their relationship. I felt the same way Mo Eun felt when she felt jealous of Song seo
Also during the series there is a one-sided and hidden love between Gohan and Mo Eun, but he was not brave to tell her his love. She should have realized that. She is always grateful to him for always being by her side, but she did not feel his love. I really feel sorry for Gohan.
also The character Mo Dam, Mo Eun's brother, and her friend Ji Yoo, had a cute relationship and scenes that added fun to the series.
Also, Ki Hyun's character was warm and their friendship was unconditional. The series is really enjoyable and worth watching..?

Leia Mais

A Relaxing Watch That Ultimately Left A Bad Taste In My Mouth

I don't like the categories for rating on here. My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.

This was a very serene watch for the most part. I found it enjoyable although there were things nagging at me throughout the entire drama.

Acting/Cast: I think this is the first time I’ve seen these actors (except for the female lead’s best friend and the female lead’s brother). I thought the female lead was fine, but I thought the male lead’s acting style was a little different that the others. He seemed like a regular person -- not very passionate, constantly flipping his hair out of his eyes. I didn’t feel like he liked the female lead. He seemed happier and more comfortable alone. Basically, I'm saying he didn't sell the romance for me; it wasn't believable. I enjoyed watching the sign language between them and not necessarily the love story between them. Maybe the leads just didn’t have chemistry. There was too big of an age gap between the leads, which also bothered me and didn't help with the chemistry. I typically don't like big age gap romances, but it still probably wouldn’t have bothered me as much if the two leads actually seemed like they loved each other. Unfortunately, I developed the dreaded second lead syndrome because the female lead and the second male lead seemed to be a much better fit for each other. 4/10

Writing: The main story started off strong, but as conflicts were introduced, it became annoying. I enjoyed all of the side love stories more than the main couple's love story. If this drama wanted to stay realistic, it should have taken a risk—have a female lead end up with a second male lead for once. I know, it’s crazy...so crazy it just might work. My heart goes out to all the mistreated second male leads in the K drama world. Anyway…where was I? Oh yeah, so the romance between the leads suddenly becomes toxic out of nowhere. I was so confused…the female lead just does a complete 180. I mean, I guess it was realistic because in real life there would come a moment when she’d realize the reality of the relationship and the age difference (Although, I don’t even think the age gap was addressed…). But then, the ending made it unrealistic and left me feeling very negatively about the whole thing. 2/10

Direction/SFX/Music: The pacing was great. That was one thing I really liked about this drama. Even if I wasn’t too into the main love story, the pacing made it a nice watch. The OST is also pretty decent. I like the artwork that was used throughout the drama as well. 6/10

Entertainment Value: I did enjoy watching this drama. It had a nice, peaceful vibe. I really liked watching the sign language and I liked the side love stories. However, they weren’t given enough screen time. I started getting annoyed in the second half of the drama by the repetitive conflicts regarding past trauma. Then, the sudden change in the female lead towards the end threw me through a loop…and then, the sudden change AGAIN at the very end... 4.5/10

Overall, I ended up giving this drama a 4/10 due to the unrealistic and strange ending, the lack of the development of side characters, and due to it being yet another drama that does a second male lead dirty. I’m going to go sulk now. (Don’t mind me…I’m still not over the second male lead syndrome I had developed while watching True Beauty.)

Leia Mais

Sometimes silence is better than sound

It was a great drama. What I've always loved about kdramas is that they get into the minute details of relationship, the struggles of understanding situations and facing them together, unraveling the harsh realities about each other. I felt this series did complete justice to how a relation between a deaf and a hearing person would be. Although its inspired from jdrama, this was more to ground reality than the fantasy perspective which the original showcased.
Towards the end, there were so many heart touching lines, that felt so real and often we in our hustle lives forget to face. Misunderstandings and how they turn ugly, but to face it and have a conversation about it, which in this case, having the conversation itself was so difficult, makes it so unique to watch. This goes to the depth of despair and regrets lingering in a person. It also shows how, regardless of the ability to talk, there are so many more important things that matter for a relationship to work out in the end.
In the negative aspects, this drama is a bit slow to watch, I found a couple of unnecessary lines, and some characters like Moeun's best friend were stranded off development while the rest all had great improvement with time. I felt like this best friend guy should have had a better purpose in the story than just being there and secretly loving the FL.
The rest of the story is worth to watch, I felt satisfied. There is so much more in life than just be in this race of winning. Its a good watch, but hits deep.

Leia Mais

A treat to eyes and heart

First thing that pulled me in is cinematography. Every single shot is so pretty, I fell in love instantly.
Love story between deaf artist and struggling actress, the portrayal is realistic and convincing. I realised watching two grown-ups talking to each other and walking hand-in-hand is relaxing and peaceful for my mind. They did age gap well, not once it felt awkward. My favourite character is Jung Moeun, she is brave, kind and considerate. Followed by Hong Ki hyun, friend of ML, he is warm and kind person. One peculiar thing is I didn't find any characters that are simply evil or hateful. They all are kind, some are hurting so ended up hurting others.
Coming to the biggest factor this show is a must watch is acting. Every one did a great job. Hats off to Jung Woo Sung, his portrayal as deaf artist is too good. It's my first time seeing him, at first I thought he is charming. As the show progressed, his range increases and by the time it ends, he completely occupied my mind. His expressive eyes took me on a roller coaster ride. Shin Hyun Been, also my first time watching her on screen. She's beautiful and expressive, fell in love with Jung Moeun. She did phenomenal job, couldn't see them apart.
Dialogues were well written, we got atleast one such dialogue every episode that rings in mind and makes us think. They give special meaning and long lasting feelings for melo romance.
One of the best OST of the year...sound of your heart by Seori, try not to cry by 10CM, and just because it's yours by Mingginyu are my favourites.

Leia Mais

A Unique and Refreshing Love story.

Cha Jinwoo and Moeun, two opposites, no not really, but do they have much in common, not really, but we see Moeun fall in love with the first person who genuinely believed in her and we see Cha Jinwoo, fall in love with the first person to truly put effort into talking with him even if he can't speak.

Their story is Beautiful and Realistic, we see Moeun's frustration adding up, Cha Jinwoo perception and although some say they shouldn't have broken up, I think it was essential they did, and Moeun explains why they got back together better than I do in the Finale.

The actors were sensational, the portrayers were near perfection, and while it's not the actors fault some scenes should have stayed without music or speech.

You're missing out if you don't watch this.

Leia Mais

Portrays the beauty of love languanges and how words aren't everything

Overall, its a really wonderful story between two individuals from two different worlds. We see a lot of the early struggles of their relationship, not only from their language barrier, but also how these two people are as two individuals who grew up in different settings as is with most relationships in the world. Its definitely a very good drama for anyone that loves melodramatic and slower paced dramas.

The story itself has great pacing throughout the entire show. You see the two characters take their time to fall in love, to open up to each other, while still struggling in their own daily lives. So the build up to them finally opening up and letting each other in and fitting each other into their daily lives is beautifully portrayed and a lot of emotion is carried leading to this point. Its a perfect portrayal of how having a partner, even if they aren't meant to be in your life forever, can still have such a huge impact on your life. Relationships should be cherished no matter the outcome.
The second part of their relationship is also fairly well done - we see the end of the honeymoon phase and we see the issues with the language barriers that while you put up with loving someone, they can ware you out over time. We don't see enough of the final breakdown of the relationship imo, a little more really would have hit the nail on the head in terms of feeling the emotional pain of the characters but still the message was received.
My only hitch with the story is essentially the ending - it was a classic ending that most dramas do with the idea of "time" healing wounds and such however, there were not enough scenes to show the characters CHANGING or GROWING. Their main issues were not resolved or at least we didn't see the realization they discovered of WHY their relationship failed and WHAT needed to change. Had we seen this, it would have been a perfect full circle.

Now ofc, I can say that WHY and WHAT can differ for different people in different situations so the writers may have left this a little more to our imagination which is why I'm okay with the story ending as it did - but I still think it could have been portrayed in a way that felt more satisfying - a way to see them struggle and think things through and really realize why they needed the time apart and how they could come back and be happy.

Everything else in this drama. 10/10. The music was very well done - beautiful music and played at the right times. The silent scenes were VERY effective. I felt like when something happened and it left a big impact on me - the music cut. Just like the meaning of the show, sounds aren't everything. Sometimes the most important things in life are those that we can only see and feel, but not hear. So for the few scenes where this happens in the show, it will make your heart skip a beat and you will feel the pressure of the scenes, without any sounds.

Overall a wonderful drama for a one time watch :) I personally don't think its rewatchable for me, maybe once a year or longer but definitely it must be seen!

Leia Mais

everyone should watch this <3

I can't even begin to express how much i loved this drama.... it's the kind of drama that really means something, it gives you a new glance about life, how experiences shape people's life, their relationships... it changes the way you understand people and their struggles. it expans your vision and your sensibility. and it makes a really good job at giving visibilty to the experiences and the everyday life of the people who can't hear.
It shows a true beautiful relationship, how the best moments are the ones that you take more for granted and because of that you overlook them, but it also shows the hardtrips, the pain in knowing there's limits as to you how much you can understand or help your partner. But most importantly it shows the difficulties someone who can't hear go through in their everyday life , with experiences and details that i, as a person who can hear, i've never stopped to consider... this shows does an amazing job to see a reality most of all haven't really seen.
The show is incredibly warm, the music, the silences, the stares.... it's amazing. also, the korean sign lenguage is sooo beautiful, it really made me want to learn it (even if im spanish hahah) but i think i will sign for classes and i hope this show inspires more people to learn their own local sign lenguage!

Leia Mais