The Chanting Willows
柳浪闻莺
China, 2021, colour, 1.33:1, 104 mins.
Director: Dai Wei 戴玮.
Rating: 6/10.
Good-looking but passionless drama centred on two bisexual female friends in the world of Yue Opera.
STORY
Sheng county [modern-day Shengzhou city], Zhejiang province, East China, summer 1996. Meng Yinxin (Kan Xin) bids a tearful farewell to her close childhood friend and fellow opera performer Tong Chuitiao (Wang Yang) and their mutual friend Gong Yushan (Zheng Yunlong) as she sets off for a new life. Shengzhou, 1992, early summer. Tong Chuitiao and Meng Yinxin are in the local Yue Opera troupe going to take part in a competition in Hangzhou, the provincial capital a few hours’ drive away. Those that perform well will be able to stay in Hangzhou and join the large troupe there. As they settle in, Meng Yinxin tells Tong Chuitiao that her elder sister has found a man she can marry so she can stay in Hangzhou. Tong Chuitiao says she should marry a man she likes. Meng Yinxin comments how Tong Chuitiao eyesight seems to be getting worse. West Lake, Hangzhou city, summer 1992. The troupe attends a lecture on the use of the fan in Chinese opera given by Gong Yushan, a fine-arts graduate who has a fan-painting workshop there. He explains how the in travesto roles that the women play are like a third gender, and the fan can be used to create more ambiguity. Afterwards Tong Chuitiao and Meng Yuxin chat to him alone. Later, some friends urge him to chat up Meng Yinxin; but he’s more intrigued by the older, more confrontational Tong Chuitiao. When he sees her perform the role of Zhu Yingtai in the competition, he is awestruck. Later she visits his workshop and explains how she once injured her eyes by falling off the stage; as a result she has to wear sunglasses in bright light. Meng Yinxin becomes jealous at their relationship, and, in order for her to win a place in Hangzhou, a cousin (Zheng Nan) urges her to spread a rumour about Tong Chuitiao’s eyesight. Meng Yinxin is chosen to stay on and Tong Chuitiao, angry at Meng Yinxin’s behaviour, leaves. Spring, 1993. At dinner with Meng Yinxin’s cousin and her husband (A Hu), Gong Yushan hears Tong Chuitiao is working as a blind masseuse near Xuzhou trian station. He visits her and asks whey she left without saying goodbye. Meng Yinxin, who has followed him, overhears their conversation. That evening she visits Gong Yushan’s workshop and seduces him. Autumn, 1994. Tong Chuitiao has found a place in a small village troupe and calls Meng Yinxin, inviting her to perform the role of Liang Shanbo opposite her Zhu Yingtai in The Butterfly Lovers 梁山伯与祝英台, as they always used to together. Tong Chuitiao is by now almost blind but the two friends are united again. However, afterwards, reminiscing in bed together, Meng Yinxin has some surprising news for Tong Chuitiao.
REVIEW
Suppressed emotions in the world of traditional Chinese opera hardly break the surface in The Chanting Willows 柳浪闻莺, a beautiful looking but passionless drama set in 1990s Zhejiang province in which the real topic – female bisexuality – is never directly mentioned. As in her previous three features (the picturesque Ganglamedo 冈拉梅朵, 2008, and Once upon a Time in Tibet 西藏往事, 2011; and the “age-travel” light comedy Once Again 二次初恋, 2017), Harbin-born Dai Wei 戴玮, who previously worked in TV and musicvideos, directs okay but with more visual than emotional feeling, despite working from an original short story and, for the first time, having a hand in the writing. Good performances by the two lead actresses within the script’s limitations further ensure a smooth, though remote, ride. After premiering at the Shanghai festival in summer 2021, it was released this spring, to a tiny RMB3.5 million.
The Chinese title, which literally means “The Undulating Willows Listen to the Orioles”, is the name of one of the 10 scenic spots around the West Lake in Hangzhou city, southwest of Shanghai. It’s also the title of one of the 10 love stories (translated as “Orioles Singing in the Willows”) by Zhejiang writer Wang Xufeng 王旭烽 in her 2008 collection Love of West Lake 爱情西湖 (see cover, left) from which Dai and Gen-90 co-writer Meng Wenjing 孟雯婧 freely adapted the script. Since her debut with Willows, Meng has since written the 34-part online youth rom-com Memory of Encaustic Tile 昔有琉璃瓦 (2022).
With all its cross-dressing, traditional opera has long been a convenient setting for Chinese movies flirting with homosexual themes, most famously in Farewell My Concubine 霸王别姬 (1993). With Willow set in the world of Yue Opera (in which all performers are traditionally women), and the two leads, friends since girlhood, are known for performing The Butterfly Lovers 梁山伯与祝英台 (in which a woman-dressed-as-a-man falls for a male classmate), the stage would seem to be set for a tale of undeclared lesbian love. In fact, it’s more about the two women’s bisexuality as a man comes between them, jealousies predictably ignite, and the whole thing ends tearfully. The young man is a traditional fan-painter who points out that the roles the women play on stage are like a third gender – though to professional singers this would hardly seem news. And at the end, one of the women realises her bisexuality is something that transcends other sexualities. It’s all a bit obvious and played with great seriousness, though to its credit the film also touches on the slow demise of traditional opera during the 1990s, especially in villages, as people move away and find other forms of entertainment.
Of the three leads, 31-year-old Zheng Yunlong 郑云龙 (better known as a singer) makes the weakest impression as the doggy-eyed man in the middle, though perhaps the characterisation is deliberately sappy in order to keep the dramatic focus on the two women. In her first leading role in a feature, Kan Xin 阚昕, 26, is good as the younger woman who becomes more assertive as her friend hits hard times; but it’s still Zhejiang-born Wang Yang 汪飏, 35, who holds the screen as the older, more dominant one who’s progressively broken by health problems but retains her dignity. Also known under the homonym 汪洋, Wang (I Was Here 我来过, 2018) has worked more in TV than films, but here she quietly carries the whole movie, especially with her subtle show of conflicting emotions.
Shot in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio – which immediately gives it an old-style, chamber-like feel – it’s a visual showcase for the work of experienced d.p. Sha Jincheng 沙金成 (The Sword Identity 倭寇的踪迹, 2011; Love Contractually 合约男女, 2017) whose soulful photography exactly captures the essence of humid rainy summers around West Lake without exaggeration. Given the relative paucity of dialogue, Sha’s images, plus the strong, slightly opera-like orchestral score by Dong Yingda 董颖达 (The Poet 诗人, 2018; So Long, My Son 地久天长, 2019), have to do a lot of the heavy lifting to keep the viewer engaged.
The film has no connection with the identically titled 1948 Mainland production, directed by Wu Cun 吴村 and Huang Han 黄汉 (see poster, left), though that plot also includes a friendship by two women who enjoy singing.
CREDITS
Presented by Zhejiang Shengxi Huashi Culture Media (CN), Shengzhou Yueyin Films & TV Culture Media (CN), Xiamen Purple Jasmine Pictures (CN), Beijing Lilac Film Production & Distribution (CN). Produced by Beijing Lilac Film Production & Distribution (CN).
Script: Dai Wei, Meng Wenjing. Short story: Wang Xufeng. Script planning: He Zizhuang. Photography: Sha Jincheng. Editing: Jin Di, Liu Xinzhu. Music: Dong Yingda. Art direction: Qiu Sheng. Styling: Ma Hongwei. Sound: Zhang Jinyan, Long Xiaozhu. Visual effects: Mei Wenyu, Qu Chong. Yue Opera performance supervision: Chen Yajun, Qiu Qiaofang. Artistic supervision: Zhang Xi. Executive direction: Long Zehua.
Cast: Wang Yang (Tong Chuitiao), Kan Xin (Meng Yinxin), Zheng Yunlong (Gong Yushan), A Wangrenqing (musician), Zheng Nan (Meng Yinxin’s female cousin), A Hu (cousin’s husband), Jin Yi (Sister Li), Wang Xiaolong (young Tong Chuitiao), Qiu Di (young Meng Yinxin), Yang Xiaoyan (troupe owner), Hai Tong (Yu, tea trader), Yang Shu (Liu, businessman), Sun Liang (Yue Opera troupe leader), Fu Yonggang (stage director).
Premiere: Shanghai Film Festival (Competition), 13 Jun 2021.
Release: China, 5 Mar 2022.