Dir. Wayne Wang, China/USA , 2011, Dur. 104 mins
Cast: Gianna Jun, Li Bing Bing, Vivian Wu, Jiang Wu, Hugh Jackman
Review by Carlie Newman
This film is really two stories in one. First there is the basic tale of seven-year-old girls Snow Flower and Lily, who, having had their feet bound in the traditional manner – to ensure a good marriage – are introduced to each other as laotong (friends for life). When Snow Flower (Jun) and Lily (Bing Bing) are separated, first by their families and then through marriage, they communicate through the exchange of secret messages written between the folds of white silk fans, using a special language which is only used by women.
Interspersed with this tale of oldChinais the modern story of two teenage girls, Nina and Sophia, who come together in the 1990s inShanghaiand become lifelong friends. They learn that they are descendants of the earlier laotongs and Sophia writes the story of Snow Flower and Lily. The contemporary friends then too become separated by family, careers and different loves and lifestyles. But when Nina (Li Bing Bing), now a successful business woman, learns that Sophia (Gianna Jun) from whom she has been estranged for a while, has been involved in a bike crash and is lying near-death in hospital, she rushes to her bedside.
There are a number of parallels in the two stories: in both eras one of the friends makes a sacrifice to free the other from the burden of caring for their laotong. The modern day women learn from the past and realise how they must live for each other. The two actresses, although playing similar roles in the past episodes and the present, look completely different and effectively convey the difference between the olden days and modern times.
There are also a number of other characters who come in and out of the stories, including the coarse butcher husband of Snow Flower, who is very well depicted by Jiang Wu.
The film is based on Lisa See’s 1995 best seller, in which the present day story played no part and it sits rather strangely beside the 19th century tale of the two young girls’ with their bound feet. In the ancient story we see a very different world from that depicted in the newly written sections of Nina and Sophie in present day Shanghai. While Wayne Wang has come up with a more than acceptable romantic film with some well composed and attractively photographed scenes set in the hidden China of the past, it is disappointing that it is rather “soapy” and sentimental. The dialogue in the modern world is somewhat stilted and the actresses seem ill at ease when they speak. We have come to expect more from the director of The Joy Luck Club.
xx - posted on 23/05/2012 13:13:28
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