Film review--'A Letter from an Unknown Woman' (2005)

'A Letter from an Unknown Woman' is the directing tribute of famous actress Jinglei Xu in mainland China 2005. Adapted by Stefan Zweig (Austria writer 1881-1942) 's novel  of the same name, Jinglei switch the background to Beijing, the story starts from a cold winter in the year 1948. A man received a letter at his 41 years old birthday telling the love for him since the girl was 13, but he knows nothing about it. In the beginning of the film,The camera lingers on golden-hued shots of the letters and their elegant Chinese characters, among many letters pile in front of the man, there is one catches his attention. Thus, the voice-over of the female leading in the first person ensures the domination of the discourse power of the female character throughout the film. When she looks back upon the history between them, it appears that the girl shows the strong emotional dependence on the male character. No matter how contradictory it is in her inner world that even though by all means she tries to seduce the man, her inferiority and inhibition stops her saying her love out loud. Like the famous female writer Ailing Zhang said, when you get close to the ‘great lover’ in your mind, “you become lower and lower, until be buried into the ground.” In front of the deep-rooted paternity in the traditional culture she is unable to parry, as a result, she sacrifices her dignity, as well as the principal position of women against feudalism in this hopeless love. This film is serving as teaching material by negative example for feminism in Chinese history.

As a film adapted by a novel, the sex of the author became a fact that cannot be neglected during the research in regards to the relation between gender and the film itself. Some say the feminist point of view is counterfeit and Stefan virtually shaped an ideal female image for men. When recreating the story, it is not only the time and background has been changed, but also the feminist desire from a real woman. From her plain and calm confession it is easy to tell that all the things she has done is of her free will and no regret until she dies. Thus, it is her choice to refer herself to the male subject, instead of being restricted; it offers her a great psychological comfort and satisfactory base on the tribulation she is in. The influence of the traditional  patriarchal society is made evidence here.

Sexual relations between men and women are the most complicated nexuses in any time not merely because there are few rational considerations but it involves two parties with entire different mentalities. Modern sociologist Martha Nussbaum expounded her point of view in feminism in her book <Sex and Social Justice>: “liberalism emphasizes respect for others as individuals and further argues that A Alison Jaggar has elided the distinction between individualism and self-sufficiency.” In my opinion, the premise of feminism is always the  equality between the sexes  but it must be built on the fully understanding and respect of the disparities in mental and physical development. Instead of spreading the idea of ‘Feminism’ people in China overemphasize ‘Female liberation’ for decades , it is, by any means from the male’s point of view. At this stage, the women’s voices can only be heard by self-criticism in this land. 

A perfect normal day video--fix sound sync problem

https://vimeo.com/73457279

There are some sound synchronize problem in the previous version, and I deleted the zoom shot (advised by my supervisor Phil) .

Project summary-- difficulties

This is the summary for some obstacles I encountered while producing the project 'A perfect normal day'

• Script

This is the first attempt for me to write a script for short film. In the beginning I have read a plenty of articles and books in terms of skills and tips for creating a character and enrich its personality. For a truly effective screenplay, there must be a comprehensive context developed for any character such as backgrounds, culture, occupation, relationships and so on. Trivial and banalities are sometimes keys to shape a convincing figure. In film <The way we are> the director rebuilt a vivid environment of Tin Shui Wei community in Hong Kong where ordinary people (especially paupers) are living a relatively prosperous and contented life. Yet there is no major turning point in the whole film, it is clear that the idea director Ann tried to convey was the authentic living state, psychology and interpersonal relation. In my script ‘A perfect normal day’ I developed a background for the female character ‘Ann’: She is 67-year-old who was born and raised in Nottingham; she worked as a waitress in a coffee shop before she retired; when she was 22 she married a local fireman Martin Russell but he died in a fire in the year 1963 which was 5 years after their wedding. She has no children and lives a lonely life since then. The only person often pays visit to her is her niece Rachel, but Ann is not very fond of her…… After set the tone of the character I started to form the shape of the story, I have modified the story for seven times under the guidance of my supervisor Phil Nodding: I was still trying to find the right direction while writing the first two versions, set a dramatic reunion as the postman is the boy Ann’s husband saves before he died. The third version is the fundament of further changes—the story was basically there but both my supervisor and I were not sure about the ending of Ann saying  “ Clever move, son.” My actress Anna Mottram has more than forty years experience of stage play, after read the script she suggested that I don’t have to write too much conversations and make it almost a monologue. If there is too much talk she will not have enough space to perform and convey the character via facial continence, gestures and movements. “Sometimes less is more” is the number one rule she taught me—we together worked out the ending as the two figures: without saying anything, they sit on the sofa and smiled knowingly at each other since Ann already indicates that she knows postman Joe pretended to hurt his ankle by a doubtful “really” in a high-pitched voice. 

• Cast

One of the difficulties of this project was to find suitable performers. Owing to the reason that “Ann” is the spirit of the story, I determined to find a professional actress for it. This is a student project and my budget was tight, it is hard to find someone who is doing it for a living. Luckily my supervisor Phil introduced Tanya Myers—an actress and director based in Nottingham to me. At that moment she was directing her stage show <Inside out of mind> in the lakeside centre in the University of Nottingham. After the show she took me to the actors and actresses thus I had the chance to hand out my scripts and introduce myself (it took me a long time to braced myself to do this ) and this project to them. After several days waiting I received emails and calls from three actresses showed their interest in performing character “Ann”. The best candidate turned out to be Anna Mottram -- a professional actress based in London and she has achieved a successful career in the industry for more than four decades. Two weeks later we had a meet up in London to discuss about the script and shooting schedule. She did not only gave me opinions on the language, but also encouraged me to be confident and calm on what I was doing.

In terms of finding the actor I had asked information from several tutors and my supervisors Phil, unfortunately I mixed those information up and missed the junior workshop. As a result I had to ask my course mate Mic for help. But his personality matched the character well and the video was highlighted by his performance. 

Film review 'Gone is the One Who Held Me Dearest in the World ' (2002)

There are a significantly increase on female filmmakers in China in the twenty century, most of them are focusing on the issue of female consciousness of the time. The living condition of modern women is improved noticeably while, women themselves, are struggling with self-awareness. To explain ‘woman consciousness’, in my opinion, is a procedure that women are seeking for their own identities in opposition to male expectations of female identity, to become the ideal figure against the cruel existing circumstances. In western countries the development was steps ahead, in English writer Charlotte Brontë’s novel ‘Jane Eyre’ this concept was articulated in 1840s. Yet not until 1990s the revolution began in the mainland China. Director Liwen Ma was accomplished in expressing subtle sentiments, as well as keeping it real but not exaggerates. 'Gone is the One Who Held Me Dearest in the World ' is the film directed by female director Liwen Ma in 2002, adapted by the novel the same title，it's a story of a relationship between a gerontic mother and her daughter.

Middle-age female writer Jie Zhang did not realize that time was running out when her mother has going senile quickly and was finally diagnosed encephalatrophy and cataract. She starts to regret that for years she had neglected her mum and decided to take care of her at her last days. The film catches the difference between women in two generations. Most of the women born in 1930s were not well educated, they have strong family views, husband and children are forever their priority beyond themselves. Like Jie's mother in the film, she is considerate, thrifty but extremely stubborn that she prefer to use tower instead of toilet paper,as a result it leads to  urinary tract infections. Jie, as a representative  of women who born after the foundation of the People's Republic of China, has received a  proper education and have their own career. They are independent but on the other side, they are detached with their families. The female characters are all strong characters in their own ways. The main female character, Jie(the daughter), shows her strength in dealing simultaneously with the stress of her mother's illness, her job and her indifferent husband. Her mother is strong in her determination to have the surgery and her attempts to recover for keeping hope for her daughter and grand-daughter. The servant Xiao Yue shows her strength in continuing to serve Jie’s mother after her dementia is getting serious. In contrast, the male character in the film—the husband is presented as weak, selfish and unconcerned.

In terms of narrative the film is straight forward, tells a story in chronological order with voice-over of Jie's interior monologue like a diary, accompanied by the well-designed mise-en-scène to present the natural atmosphere. The camera perspective is aligned with the perspective of the female leading throughout the film , especially close-ups, convey the idea of “woman’s gaze”.

Reference

[1] http://www.fareastfilm.com/EasyNe2/LYT.aspx?Code=FEFJ&IDLYT=15535&ST=SQL&SQL=ID_Documento=23 (08/09/2013)

[2]

http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue16/vanderstaay.htm (08/09/2013)