What
would happen if you placed an ad in a Personals column, indicating
that you were looking for a suitable marriage partner? Why
would you do so? These two questions are both posed but answered
in that order in The Personals (Zheng hun qi shi),
a Taiwanese film directed and cowritten by Chen Kuo-fu, based
on a book by Chen Yu-hui. Thirty-one-year-old ophthalmologist
Du Jiazhen (played by René Liu) has seen her last patient
at the hospital, quit her job, and is intent on finding a
husband outside her circle of friends and associates by interviewing
some of those who have responded to her personals ad. She
shares her thoughts as occasional voiceovers, but we still
do not know what has prompted her to abandon an established
career to interview lonely hearts and others with less honorable
motives, some one hundred responses in all. She interviews
them at a teahouse in Tianmu, a suburb some distance from
her home, and we see the nondescript outline of Taipei’s unglamorous
skyline as she commutes by bus. Those with whom she dines,
mostly nonprofessional actors, present a panorama of life
in modern Taipei. The men, identified through momentary titles
by name, age, and occupation, talk a lot about themselves
but rarely want to know about her and why such an attractive,
intelligent woman would place such an ad. Wang, the first,
cuts circuit boards for computers; at age 40, he has not married
because his take-home pay is inadequate for the women whom
he courts. Next, Tao (played by rock singer Woo Pai) sings
to her, but she is unimpressed. After two other meetings,
she dines with Lin, a 35-five-year-old restaurant manager
with a shoe fetish. Then she decides to consult Professor
Luo, her former teacher, who tries to give her the advice
of a married man but also does not understand what really
bothers her, and in repeat visits he again fails to comprehend
her dilemma; instead, by admitting that he is gay very late
in the film, he asks understanding from her. The parade of
suitors continues with Ko, a realtor who enjoys S&M movies,
and tourguide Wu, who tries palm reading on her. Some of the
men do not know how to relate to women, but others are simply
seeking sex. In one case, a pimp offers her an opportunity
as a prostitute, in another case a woman comes dressed as
a man, and yet another interview involves an amusing man (played
by actor Niu Cheng-tse) with a fake beard and limp. As she
holds court at the teahouse, the expressions on her face open
windows into a range of emotions. Every night, however, she
places a telephone call to someone, always leaving a message
on an answerphone. The most seductive man is a 32-year-old
furnituremaker (played by Chen Chao-jung), who confides that
he was in prison 18 months, presumably because his father
passed bad checks; he invites her to go fishing, they end
up in bed, but when she sobs afterward in the bathroom, he
leaves. After continuing with the interviews, possibly out
of sociological curiosity by now, she dines with a 49-year-old
frugal elementary schoolteacher, Yu Wen (played by Chin Shih-chieh),
who pathetically tries in vain to impress her with facereading
and singing. Finally, a blind musician shows up one day, not
because he wants to marry her but instead because he remembers
when she examined his eyes and is curious to learn why she
has placed the ad, listing her name as "Wu," but again she
ducks the opportunity to be candid. At this point, she receives
a call from a Mrs. Wu, and we learn the full story. Du had
been courting Mrs. Wu’s husband, whom she met at the teahouse
in Tianmu. Eventually, Wu told his wife about the affair after
Du became pregnant, but he later died in a plane crash on
a flight from Phnom Penh to Vietnam. Mrs. Wu, who had been
listening to all the telephone messages left for her husband
by Du, confides that she first was angry about the affair.
Upon reflection, however, Mrs. Wu realized that Du was more
devoted to her husband than she was, so she called to tell
Du that her self-realization enabled her to get over her husband’s
death and to praise Du for her steadfast love. Finally, as
titles give her name, age, and occupation, Du realizes that
the call enables her to end a chapter in her life and move
on. She had been searching for herself all along. For observers
of Taiwan, who see a parade of respondents to a personals
ad, mostly by male chauvinists, the conclusion is inescapable
that rapid economic change has produced a society of workers
who have tedious jobs, are socially unconnected and rootless,
and have been stripped of genuine identities. Beyond the humor
and the sadness in The Personals, such social
turmoil has profound implications, as extremist politicians
with unrealistic slogans often appeal to those who are unsuccessful
in finding meaning in their lives. MH
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