A Paper Marriage
一纸婚约
China, 2017, colour, 2.35:1, 90 mins.
Director: Zhang Hui 张辉.
Rating: 8/10.
Involving odd-couple movie has its own gentle style and flavour, with fine writing and acting.
STORY
Shanghai, 2012. Divorced for almost three years and in a hurry to sell his flat, Wang Feng (Zhang Hui), an associate professor of philosophy at Shanghai Huangpu University, agrees to a paper marriage with Ye Zi (Liu Xiyang), who’s getting married on 1 Oct but, as an out-of-towner, isn’t qualified to buy a flat in the city. Even before she’s paid her deposit in full to Wang Feng, Ye Zi starts renovating the flat. When her parents arrive unexpectedly in Shanghai, she asks Wang Feng to temporarily move out to save embarrassment. He agrees, but only if she transfers the rest of her RMB500,000 deposit the next day, as she has so far paid him only RMB350,000 and is already two weeks overdue on their agreement. The penniless Ye Zi assures him she’ll get the money from her fiance, Li Chao (Zhang Yishan). But when Wang Feng overhears her fiance has gone AWOL, he spills the beans to her parents. Meanwhile, the renovators demand payment before completing the job and Ye Zi is forced to move into Wang Feng’s flat as she now has nowhere to live. After Ye Zi discovers that Li Chao has dumped her for her best friend (Yang Zi), she gets drunk and passes out in Wang Feng’s flat. Next day she prepares to leave, promising to pay Wang Feng all she owes him; but as she’s packing, Wang Feng’s daughter, Wang Xiaoxiang (Guan Xiaotong), turns up to stay for a while.
REVIEW
Starting like an odd-couple rom-com, as a divorced university prof and a material millennial are forced to share a flat, A Paper Marriage 一纸婚约 morphs into something far different, a light drama with its own gentle style and flavour, despite being built out of genre elements. It’s the second theatrical feature by 40-something Mainland writer-director Zhang Hui 张辉 (the beautifully mounted Snow of Tianshan Mountain 天山雪, 2007), who’s head of Beijing Film Academy’s performing-arts school as well as an occasional director of TV dramas (such as the pioneering Face Up 永不回头, 2010, about prisoners returning to daily life). Though it grossed less than RMB1 million at the Mainland box office this past summer, it is one of the overlooked gems of the year, with finely tuned performances from the whole cast and a screenplay (co-written by Li Zhiying 李祉萤) that flows effortlessly between a comedy of manners, black comedy and light drama, all anchored in unflashy film-making values that put the focus on the actors and the script.
In its undemonstrative way, the film consistently wrongfoots the viewer who expects it to fall into a single mould. The opening, featuring Our Middle-Aged Hero trying to rescue a suicidal friend, turns out to be a teaser for a development later in the film, and the opening scenes of the main story are borderline impressionistic with their lack of background explaining who the characters are. Once it’s clear there’s an arranged marriage at stake that will benefit both parties, the story then wends its way towards the pair ending up as unwilling flatmates, and at the 30-minute mark the film looks like settling into an odd-couple comedy between two complete opposites.
Instead, writers Li and Zhang start taking a more reflective tone, gradually turning the unlikeable figure of the self-centred millennial into a sympathetic one and that of the university prof into one whose background is not as simple or as local as it first appears. Despite the quality of the natural dialogue, none of this would work without simpatico casting and both director Zhang (taking the main role of the prof) and actress Liu Xiyang 刘熙阳 (as the millennial) have an easy chemistry that motors the movie in an unobvious way. In her first major film role, BFA graduate Li, now 25, is excellent as the initially spikey, self-obsessed millennial, and Zhang, very much letting her take the lead, equally so as the quiet, professional, decent prof. Supporting performances are similarly well cast, especially Guan Xiaotong 关晓彤 (the king’s sister in Shadow 影, 2018) as the prof’s understanding daughter and veterans Na Renhua 娜仁花 and Zhao Jun 赵君 as the millennial’s parents. Only Xia Yu 夏雨 lookalike Zhang Yishan 张一山 (Escape Route 夺路而逃, 2016) seems a little generic – in writing as well as acting – as her errant boyfriend.
Typically restrained music by Liu Sijun 刘思军 (Dam Street 红颜, 2005; Be a Mother 母语, 2011; A Deux World 旗, 2015) enters where appropriate, especially as the pair’s relationship warms up after the first hour, and is a major factor in the film’s success at finally being very moving without becoming melodramatic. Throughout, the widescreen photography by Taiwan ace Lin Liangzhong 林良忠 [Jong Lin] (Eat Drink Man Woman 饮食男女, 1994; The Road 芳香之旅, 2006; Lan 我们天上见, 2009) is nicely lit and composed, especially the warm, wooden interiors of the prof’s old-style Shanghai flat.
Zhang Hui is not to be confused with the identically named actor-director of films like The Story That Should Not Have Happened 不该发生的故事 (1983).
CREDITS
Presented by Youth Film Studio (CN), Auss Printing (Guilin) (CN). Produced by Youth Film Studio (CN), Auss Printing (Guilin) (CN).
Script: Li Zhiying, Zhang Hui. Photography: Lin Liangzhong [Jong Lin]. Editing: Wu Qianyun. Music: Liu Sijun. Art direction: Huo Tingxiao, Li Jiawei. Costumes: Chen Wei. Styling: Yao Shenggen. Sound: Feng Liangliang, Lv Jiajin. Special effects: Sun Miaowen, Zhang Zixin. Executive direction: Xiang Wang.
Cast: Zhang Hui (Wang Feng), Liu Xiyang (Ye Zi), Liu Jia (Li, university director), Na Renhua (Ye Zi’s mother), Zhao Jun (Ye Zi’s father), Zhang Yishan (Li Chao, Ye Zi’s fiance), Yang Zi (Linlin, Ye Zi’s best friend), Guan Xiaotong (Wang Xiaoxiang, Wang Feng’s daughter), Wang Jinsong (Zhou Shilei), He Xiaoshu (Wang Feng’s female mentor), Qian Xuege (professor), Liu Tao (Lu, teacher), Che Jingxing (Jin, university director), Hong Baosheng (Xu, teacher), Xu Yan (Zhao, professor), Fan Jianping (Li, teacher), Xiang Wang (Xiaoyang, intermediary), Yi Cai (police officer), Qu Yi (street musician), Wu Song (male customer), Zhang Yilin (female customer), Gan Dashuang (Xiaoma, maid), Li Zhexue (bridal-shop manageress), Hu Xiaoguang (Old Li, Wang Feng’s friend).
Premiere: Houston Film Festival (Panorama China), 29 Apr 2017.
Release: China, 8 Jun 2018.