Review of Saving Face (2004) by Frances W — 18 Nov 2007

Alice Wu has done what Lee Ang has done for Chinese directors and actors. A poignant tale of cultural clashes versus the fulfilment of traditional Chinese expectations, the film talks about a middle age widow who becomes unexpectedly pregnant much to the chagrin of her professor father who worries about losing face. Meanwhile, her grown-up surgeon daughter is battling coming public with her lesbianism as well as mending the broken fence when she admits to her mother of her socially stigmatised inclinations.

Interweaved in between are plenty of East-meets-West humour and impeccably fine acting coming from the stellar cast, most notably Joan Chen's role as the widow whose funny and unnerving ways also show a vulnerable and lonesome side when torn between conforming to her authoritarian father's ways once again and finding the freedom that she's in dire need of. Chen gives her best as both a subserviant daughter and a straight-faced mother. Daughter Wil played by Michelle Krusiec and her lesbian lover played by Lynn Chen also lend great support to the film which is ultimately bittersweet. (A).