Saving Face, directed by Alice Wu, is an amusing soap opera that portrays Chinese in New York breaking free from Old World conventions. At the center of the film is the expulsion of a forty-eight-year-old widower "Ma" Pang (played by Joan Chen) from the house of her father (played by Jin Wang), because she is pregnant and will not reveal the birthfather's identity, and her relocation to the apartment of her daughter Wilhelmina (played by Michelle Krusiec). Having married to please her father the first time, Ma soon finds herself trying to get back in his good graces by allowing others to find her a husband. However, she goes through a succession of nerds and one younger man who dances too fast, while ignoring the attentions of a handsome younger man, Mr. Cho (played by Nathaniel Geng), who works for the subway. Meanwhile, as a successful emergency room surgeon, Wil has no time for boyfriends. One day, she encounters Vivian (played by Lynn Chen), who has eagle eyes for her. A ballet dancer who is turning to modern dance, Vivian pursues Wil until the two end up in bed. Soon, Vivian gets a job offer from the Paris Ballet, but her acceptance depends upon the status of her relationship with Wil, who in turn is pressured by her boss, Vivian's father, to let her go to Paris and by her mother, who disapproves of the relationship. Clearly, the plot heads for an epiphany or two, and the soap opera at one point harkens back to the most famous scene in The Graduate (1967), but the story is a cover for the real subtexts--the struggle by older Chinese to control younger Chinese, by Chinese men to control Chinese women, and the way in which Chinese norms clash with American norms. Inside jokes abound for Chinese filmviewers, and non-Chinese will learn a lot if they pay attention. MH
I
want to comment on this film
