Our Rating: 3.50
In the China of 1946, a sickly landowner welcomes an old chum into his home, unaware that his wife and the visitor share a history that threatens the resident couple’s already rocky marriage. Rarely venturing far beyond the walls of their stately abode, the movie is a pressure cooker of slowly incubating hostilities – mild taunts and little broaches of etiquette predominate. As such, the drama can seem tepid from a contemporary Western perspective. (Director Tian Zhuangzhuang has remade a 1948 film by Fei Mu.) But there’s usually a tasty morsel of cinematography or performance just around the corner – like a scene in which the distraught cuckold allows himself a good, long cry. Actor Xin Baiqing milks the moment for all it’s worth, making you wonder why our stateside leading men seldom get to display such vulnerability.
This article appears in Aug 4-10, 2004.