The original novel of director Park Chan-wook's film "There's No Choice"
The mad struggle for employment of an ordinary middle-class father

At the 2019 Busan International Film Festival, director Park Chan-wook met with director Costa-Gavras and mentioned Costa-Gavras's 2005 film, "Axe: A Dangerous Guide to Getting a Job," which was adapted from the novel "Axe," and said the following.


“There is a film that I absolutely intend to make as my life’s project.
The title is 'Axe', and director Costa-Gavras first made it in French and holds the copyright.
I'm planning to make an English film. It hasn't been made yet, but I definitely plan to make it and I want it to be my masterpiece."

Director Park Chan-wook, who considered the film adaptation of "Axe" his life's work, finally completed production on the film titled "No Choice" in 2025, and it is scheduled for release soon.

What is the appeal of this novel chosen by two film directors who are praised as world-class masters?


Donald E., a three-time Edgar Award-winning mystery novelist,
Westlake's "Axe" became a bestseller immediately after its publication in the United States in 1997, and was so popular that it was selected as a "Book of the Year" by the New York Times and the Washington Post that year.
This is because readers deeply sympathized with this novel, which deals with the hidden side of American society in 1996, when stock prices were soaring day after day and the economy was booming, namely the fate of countless workers who were laid off due to industrial automation in a capitalist society.

The word 'axe', which means 'axe', also has the meaning of 'layoff'.
This work unfolds two stories simultaneously: the devastation of a middle-class man who lived an ordinary life working for a paper company for many years after being suddenly laid off, and the dangerous journey he undertakes to find new employment. The protagonist, Burke Devoret, fulfills his desire to maintain a middle-class life and escapes his fear of falling into the abyss by eliminating his competitors in his own way.
Just as companies say that 'layoffs are unavoidable' for their own purposes, Devore also says that 'murder is unavoidable' to protect his own life.
Through these provocative imaginations and dangerous settings, the author satirizes the tragic reality of modern capitalist society, filled with the twisted desires born of neoliberalism and competition.


『Axe』, which has been a constant topic of conversation since its first publication in Korea in 1998, will be presented with a new cover at the 2025 Open House.
It would also be very interesting to read and find out what part of the novel captivated director Park Chan-wook and made him decide to make it into a film.


This must be a success.
We must get out of this crisis quickly.
To do that, you have to be able to commit murder.

Burke Devoret, a middle-class man who was suddenly laid off from the paper company where he had worked faithfully for 23 years.
Contrary to expectations that he would be able to quickly find a new job given his experience, he has been struggling to find a job for two years.
With his unemployment benefits cut off and his days in despair, he devises an ingenious plan to rebuild his crumbling family and save his wounded soul.


He places a fake job ad in a magazine, looking for a manager for his fictional paper company.
His mailbox is filled with resumes from long-term unemployed people like him, and he weeds out competitors who have better conditions than him.
If these people also applied to the same company that Burke submitted his resume to, the hiring manager would naturally choose one of them over Burke.
So they must disappear from the world forever.
There's nothing I can do.