Love for Life

最爱

China, 2011, colour, 1.85:1, 101 mins.

Director: Gu Changwei 顾长卫.

Rating: 5/10.

China’s first AIDS drama jumps the rails when it becomes a star-driven tragic romance.

STORY

Northern China, the early 1990s, winter. A village has been hit by AIDS and the cause traced to infected blood sold by Zhao Qiquan (Pu Cunxi) in illict dealings. His father, respected former schoolteacher Old Zhuzhu (Tao Zeru), apologises to all the villagers on his behalf, reminding them that Zhao Qiquan’s younger son Zhao Deyi (Guo Fucheng) has also been infected. However, to the villagers it is a “new plague” without any cure. Those known to be infected move into the deserted old school on the edge of the village and Zhao Deyi tells his wife Hao Yan (Li Danyang) to take his young son, move away and re-marry after he dies. Some two weeks later the group is joined by Shang Qinqin (Zhang Ziyi), the wife of Zhao Deyi’s cousin, who became infected when selling her blood for money. On finding out, her husband Zhao Xiaohai (Cai Guoqing) had beat her and now wants nothing to do with her. Meanwhile, Hao Yan has stopped visiting Zhao Deyi and moved to live with her mother. Soon after arriving, Shang Qinqin has her red-silk padded jacket stolen and acting village head Silun (Sun Haiying) some money and a notebook. The only other woman in the group, cook Liang Fang (Jiang Wenli), is found stealing rice. The thief (Li Jianhua) is discovered among the group, and Silun recovers his diary but dies soon after. No longer wanting to sleep in the old school, especially in mid-winter, the members of the group go to stay at their homes, but are treated as “untouchables” by their fellow villagers. Left alone, with nothing to lose, Zhao Deyi and Shang Qinqin sleep together. Gradually, the others move back into the school, and one day Zhao Deyi and Shang Qinqin are discovered as lovers. Zhao Xiaohai disowns her, and she and Zhao Deyi eventually live together on the edge of the village. As their love for each other deepens, they hear that more and more of the group are dying.

REVIEW

The first Mainland Chinese feature to deal with AIDS, Love for Life 最爱 is well-intentioned but misses the mark by a mile, trying to combine a mainstream romantic tragedy with a grittier depiction of villagers’ superstition and bottom-line practicality as the “new plague” strikes their small, interwoven community. Strongly cast with some of China’s best character actors (Tao Zeru 陶泽如, Wang Baoqiang 王宝强, Sun Haiying 孙海英), peppered with name cameos (actor Jiang Wen 姜文, plus directors Feng Xiaogang 冯小刚 and Lu Chuan 陆川), but with two stars – Zhang Ziyi 章子怡 and Hong Kong’s Guo Fucheng 郭富城 [Aaron Kwok] – who simply look out of place in the realistic setting, this third feature by d.p.-turned-director Gu Changwei 顾长卫 (Peacock 孔雀, 2004; And the Spring Comes 立春, 2006) is his least satisfactory.

A better movie may or may not exist in its original two-and-a-half-hour version – which reportedly spent more time on the supporting characters – but as it stands now Love for Life is an initially interesting drama that jumps the rails in its final hour as the love story between its beautiful two stars takes precedence, with the final sexy/feverish moments especially risible with its attempt at a kind of tragic eroticism. That’s a shame, as the first 40-or-so minutes have considerable promise, sketching the villagers’ understandable panic over a disease they know nothing about except hearsay, the victims’ isolation in a deserted schoolhouse on the edge of town in winter, and tensions within the group. Strong performances by the mature cast, including Gu’s actress wife Jiang Wenli 蒋雯丽 (director of the remarkable Lan 我们天上见, 2009) as a gruff cook, carry these early sections. And unlike many western AIDS movies, Love for Life is neither inward-looking nor depressive, with a very Asian sense of community – both positive and negative – throughout.

However, the focus shifts thereafter into a melodrama that seems to have little do with the wintry opening section, plus photography that’s often decorative for its own sake (Zhang’s red clothing, shots of idealised nature) rather than supporting the story. Neither Zhang nor Guo ever seem believable, even though Zhang has played rural roles before; Guo is especially unconvincing as a Mainland villager, even in movie terms. It all seems a long way from Gu’s directing debut, the beautifully controlled Peacock, and has none of the emotional underpinnings that made And the Spring Comes so worthwhile despite its flaws.

The film is also known under the English titles Til Death Do Us Part and Life Is a Miracle, and has the same Chinese title (literally, “Most Loved”) as the 1986 drama Passion 最爱 directed by Zhang Aijia 张艾嘉 [Sylvia Chang]. A companion documentary by Zhao Liang 赵亮 on AIDS, the feature-length Together 在一起 (2011), was shot at the same time as Love for Life, as a kind of “making of” that follows some of the actors and HIV-infected crew members.

CREDITS

Presented by Stellar Mega Films (CN), Xing Long Huanqiu Group (CN), Beijing H&H Communications Media (CN), Beijing Forbidden City Culture & Media (CN), Chengdu Media Group Pioneer Film & Broadcasting (CN).

Script: Yan Laoshi, Yang Weiwei, Gu Changwei. Photography: Yang Tao, Christopher Doyle. Editing: Li Dianshi. Music: Zuoxiao Zuzhou. Theme song: Jin Peida [Peter Kam]. Lyrics: Xiao Mei. Singers: Guo Fucheng [Aaron Kwok], Zhang Ziyi. Production design: Wang Weiyuan, Han Dahai. Costumes: Song Fengru. Sound: Gu Changning. Visual effects: Zhan Zhenyi.

Cast: Zhang Ziyi (Shang Qinqin), Guo Fucheng [Aaron Kwok] (Zhao Deyi), Pu Cunxi (Zhao Qiquan, Zhao Deyi’s father), Jiang Wenli (Liang Fang), Sun Haiying (Silun, acting village head), Tao Zeru (Old Zhuzhu, Shang Qiquan’s father), Wang Baoqiang (Da Zui/Big Mouth/Blabber), Cai Guoqing (Zhao Xiaohai, Shang Qinqin’s husband), Li Jianhua (thief), Li Danyang (Hao Yan, Zhao Deyi’s wife), Hu Zetao (Zhao Xiaoxin), Guo Yongzhang (Er Sao), Jiang Wen (taxi driver), Feng Xiaogang, Lu Chuan.

Release: China, 10 May 2011.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 19 Jul 2011.)