No I haven’t died…its been a heck of a month for me, but I am back. I found this most interesting DVD review on a Chinese classic film, Fei Mu’s 1948 “Spring In A Small Town
“The film’s principal female character Yuwen (Wei Wei) has all but given up on any kind of fulfilment in her life. Trapped in the ruins of their house in a small town devastated by the Second World War, Yuwen is caught up in a marriage with Dai Liyan (Yu Shi), a man she never really loved. Liyan has been ill with a heart condition for six of the eight years they have been married, and the relationship between them has for a long time lacked any passion, Yuwen’s role being reduced to a nursemaid looking after the sick man. “
“One day however, Liyan’s old schoolfriend Zhang Zhichen (Wei Li) arrives in the town by train and stays with them as a guest. His presence throws the quiet household into turmoil. Liyan starts to feel better and is able to take more air and reduce his medication. His young sixteen year-old sister who lives with them, is enchanted by this man who has seen so much more of the world beyond the confines of their small town, and Liyan thinks Zhang might make a good match for the young girl. However, unknown to him, Yuwen and Zhang once had a relationship until the young man left to study and work in the provinces as a doctor. Brought together again unexpectedly, the frustrations Yuwen has been experiencing in her marriage give rise to old passions, long ago put aside. “
“Director Fei Mu depicts both the surface narrative of the story and the incredible flux of the internal emotional states of the characters with remarkable facility and expressiveness. The presence of Zhang Zhichen gives rise to powerful conflicting passions within each of the characters, creating several situations where little is said, but the tensions between them are palpably felt. Much of this is expressed in the subtlest of gestures and the suggestive and symbolic use of objects – scarves, orchids, a bottle of medicine – but also in an exquisite sense of pacing and editing. The cuts between scenes at the start of the film start to give way to a delicate flow of cross-fades when Zhang arrives, as if time has started to flow again for Yuwen and, with dream-like elliptical jumps, it even appears to move forward faster than she can keep up with any time the young doctor is in close proximity.” [Source: www.dvdtimes.co.uk]
The story sounds romantic, dangerous, and alluring. Its worth the buy just to see how symbolism is used, after all symbolism is a universal language.
