*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*
I have to agree with dagrattle -- one of the best films in 2007. I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner. My initial hesitation was over the big deal being made about the sex scenes, but upon watching the film you realize that they're key. Much of the relationship between Chia Chi and Mr. Yee develops through each sexual act, which starts out as a bit of a deadly game for both.
So here's where I have to ask, why all the misdirected anger at the main character?
*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*
Superficial reading -- young student joins resistance, infiltrates the home (and heart) of an enemy collaborator, and then betrays the resistance and China's cause for her new love.
I suppose if that's all you got from the film, you might feel angry that a stupid young woman would "whore" herself out to the enemy, fall in love with that enemy, and then betray her cause. But that's the most superficial interpretation.
The main character (Chia Chi) is actually the person most deserving of the viewer's compassion, because she pays perhaps the highest price of anyone in the film. She lives in an occupied Chinese society where the men in her life essentially treat her as an object or tool, to be used or discarded.
1) Her father has essentially abandoned Chia Chi in China to live in England with his son and new wife -- it's not hard to read into the value that the father is placing on son over daughter. Still rings true today, to some extent.
2) Abandoned, she turns to her group of idealistic student friends who brashly decide to form a resistance group to target an enemy collaborator (Mr. Yee).
3) Her student friends and the charismatic leader (whom she has something of a crush on) decide that she should try to become Mr. Yee's mistress. Chia Chi has to lose her virginity to one of the random students so she can become "practiced" in lovemaking. Giving up your virginity out of wedlock back then in China was no small change -- and I think the film clearly showed everyone's attitude (including Chia Chi's) toward women who ended up as prostitutes.
4) Chia Chi successfully becomes Mr. Yee's mistress by seducing him, although their first encounter is more akin to rape. Dagrattle explained the "smile" already in a different post.
5) The lovemaking with Mr. Yee that started out as a game of seduction (and him using her to satiate his lust) eventually entraps both of them, when they develop feelings for each other. Realizing that she's falling for Yee, she begs the resistance leaders to hurry up and carry out the plan to kill him. But they refuse and wait for the right time, ignoring her plea. She even describes in graphic detail the things that Yee does to her, but the elder resistance leader just looks at her with a mixture of shame and revulsion.
To recap: Chia Chi willingly violated one of the most powerful social norms of her time (giving up her virginity outside wedlock and then sleeping with the enemy) for the cause, only to have the men leading that cause look down on her -- even as they used her as the key to get to Yee.
6) The only person who might have saved Chia Chi is the young, charismatic student/resistance leader that she first elected to follow. But in the end, he too chooses to go with the resistance plans -- and thereby demonstrates his willingness to sacrifice Chia Chi's individual dignity and worth for the greater cause.
7) Chia Chi is basically alone and abandoned after making enormous individual sacrifices for China's cause, which repays her with nothing but shame and scorn for how she has degraded herself in society's eyes. So it's no mystery why she does fall in love with Mr. Yee, who is the only person in her universe expressing genuine feelings for her as an individual. And that leads to her tragic decision at the end.
Other people have already done a good job of analyzing one of the last scenes, where the young resistance leader (Kuang) looks at Chia Chi with a mixture of anger (for the betrayal) and shameful acknowledgment (for his part in her degradation and their downfall). It's a moving and brilliant film to watch.
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jnagarya-1
14 years ago
"zanfib" --
Though I think you put far too much emphasis on the "degradation" theory, an otherwise excellent analysis. She does deserve compassion for the no-win dilemma in which she finds herself.
And I'll tell you this: I watched the film any number of times. Then didn't watch it for some months. Then watched it again -- and the scene in which she details what is happening to her to the cell and resistance leaders broke ME down: it almost snuck on up on me, emotionally.
What an awful "attack" on herself, part of the tragedy of which was that she volunteered for it (though she couldn't have predicted it), she was undergoing -- for her country.
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devonblue
14 years ago
Wonderful review, you should do this for a living :)
I do not post very often, but I had to reply to this.
You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice
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Jeremy-124
14 years ago
Great post, bravo! This is a brilliant and moving film, one of the best of the decade.
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hikai77
14 years ago
I just watched the movie and for the most part I agree with the assessments given above, however one thing I disagree with is that although she warned Yee of the plot, I think the plot had already failed by that point. Remember how Yee's assistant already had a file on Keung and were following him. Also, the plan was for the assasination to take place in the store right? But they never showed up. I also do not think that Yee had enough time to get the roadblock together after leaving Wong in order to have trapped Wong the way they did. Remember, it is in the 40s, no cell phones for Yee to call in the troops on the road. I do agree that Wong ended up falling for Yee, but I think the plot failed already by that point. Also, they never interrogated Wong, Yee said there was no point because all the rest of the stories matched. I am surprised she did not take the poison pill, I wonder if it is because she actually still crushed on Keung and wanted to have the chance to see him one last time.
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rdowb
14 years ago
I think she didn't take the poison pill because she felt she deserved to die the way she did. If she felt shame or regret for her actions, she would have killed herself.
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zoso8_thegreat
14 years ago
Thanks everybody for shutting down the first morons who had no idea what they were talking about!!
I just finished the film, and felt very emotionally drawn. It sounds weird to say, but I was angry when the film ended. I think because it ended in such a way that I was disappointed. But, facts a fact.
After the whole movie sunk in and digesting it a bit more, I became more reflective, and realized that the film was successful in its job.
I reacted and I tried to make sense of why events turned out the way they did.
Similar to how we react to life's drama.
I do not want to sound cliche, but that is incidentally how I experienced the film.
Take into account all of what the previous posters have said, I feel that there is so much to the film that it would be difficult to not become mesmerized.
(I do felt the sex scenes were pushing it though, but I dealt with it)
Solid movie. And in my opinion, Ang Lee's best.
8/10
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taft_raids
13 years ago
dude its peoples freaking opinion...not everybody is gonna like the same damn movie so why is that person a moron because they don't agree with you if anything your the moron...i personally hated the movie...and thats my opinion moron
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zoso8_thegreat
13 years ago
Ok 'taft_raids', it's true, everyone has their own opinion, and not everyone is going to like the same movie.
And perhaps I shouldn't have called them 'moron'.
But what's it to YOU anyhow?
Why are YOU so vindictive to me, to defend somebody who didn't even provide an 'opinion'?
All they did was but grumble about the film without having any constructive criticism or substantiating their reception of the film.
What are you the insult police, making sure no one calls anyone else 'bad names'?
OR MAYBE you're taking it personally because ultimately, YOU didn't enjoy the film. And rather than try to provide some useful commentary on the film, you just back up someone else who didn't like it, inasmuch as neither of you are actually arguing one's point of view.
So what is your point then? That I'm a 'moron' for calling them a 'moron'?
OK, good for you! Now go get a life please or at least provide something useful like, um, a CRITICISM.
That's after all what this site is for. You know, you watch movies, you think about them, you analyze them/provide input.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE A DIME A DOZEN; COMING ON HERE WITH NOTHING TO INPUT FOR FILMS OTHER THAN VERBAL DIARRHEA OR TO TRASH TALK. PLEASE SAY SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE AND MAKE PROPER USE OF THIS SITE!!!
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deandawg3
14 years ago
I don't think the plan had completely failed yet. Yee's assistant said that they knew about her too but didn't do anything because they knew of Mr. Yee's involvement with Wong. I figure that they assumed that he was suspicious of her since he was suspicious of everyone, or they were simply afraid to tell him the truth about his mistress. I think they knew that she was the key in that resistance group's assassination plot, so they were watching both her and her group at all times. I think they watched and waited until they saw Mr. Yee running from the jewelry shop, and knew to arrest the other guys at that point. Also, if the resistance group was arrested before Wong warned Mr. Yee then they would not know that Wong had betrayed them.
Also, I think she did not take the suicide pill for 2 reasons: 1) She still had a sense of loyalty to her group and wanted to see them again before she died (she had always asked when she would get to see them) even though they knew (presumably) that she had betrayed them. She started this mission with her friends and I think she wants to end it with them too, even if she knows they hate/feel betrayed by her. 2) She hopes that Mr. Yee might be lenient with her because she loves him and knows he loves her. Since she warned him, I think she believes she might have a slight chance of escaping death by facing him. Maybe she thinks that if he interviews her, she can beg for mercy (but of course he does not want to face her and does not interview her).
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leojbramble
14 years ago
Zanfib, excellent post! I just finished watching the film on Netflix, surfed immediately to IMDb (even as the credits are still rolling), and straightaway seized on this thread, agreeing wholeheartedly with the OP's basic annoyance at the pointlessness of the movie, disappointment with the ending, and complete disgust with the main character. But you make some excellent, excellent points. I'm still kind of annoyed with the film, because my 'gut' still wants a more traditionally 'satisfying' conclusion, but I'm forced to reconsider it in light of your thoughtful and well-stated analysis. Thanks!
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druce
13 years ago
Hmmh... good post but I still feel a high degree of moral dissonance at a senseless betrayal.
It didn't work for me. There needed to have been a more explicit rationale; she should have become aware of the degree to which she was expendable or intended to be disposed of, and that her group conspired or acquiesced. Perhaps the subtitles didn't do it justice. It seemed understandable to have to wait for the right moment, and the young ringleader actually spoke up for her and belatedly expressed affection. (Even though he was proven a fool and non-alpha male for sending someone else when she needed deflowering)
There also needed to be more setup showing how Yee proved he cared for her, and in addition to being a true alpha male, was himself a tragic victim of circumstance, as opposed to reveling in violence against enemy and lover alike.
As it was, it seemed like she was so desperate for affection, she was unable to go against the first man to show her the tiniest glimmer of it, in between acts of violence against her and others.
Would have been interesting if Yee had betrayed himself somehow trying to help her and gotten himself shot - exploited and destroyed the same as her.
Very evocative and atmospheric, interesting plot and premise, but ultimately disorienting and confusing.
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ariellibra
11 years ago
druce, ur thoughts are along the line w/ mine, i disapprove the main character too, btw, the subtitles are pretty accurate, including the dialects.
however, i like this movie, i guess you don't need approval of the main characters to like a movie.
aside from the lousy leading actress, the reason i think this is a good movie overall is b/c of its retro atmosphere, the detailed and historically accurate rebuilt of wwii shanghai, the streets, the alleys, the hotels and homes, the shops, restaurants and cafes, even posters and cracker cans, all excellently and professionally documented in this film.
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rzajac
11 years ago
With rfniligxkx on this one: Fantastic exegesis.
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