Full Review

Childless Yuwen (Jingfan Hu) has been in an arranged marriage for eight years to her mysteriously sick husband, Liyan (Jun Wu). She is bored and frustrated and, to Liyan's shame, they no longer sleep together.

Also living in his large but war-damaged rural home are Liyan's teen sister, Xiu (Sisi Lu), and the faithful family retainer (Xiaokeng Ye).

One day Liyan welcomes in his old friend, Zhichen (Baiqing Xin), now a successful doctor, who has come from Shanghai to visit him. But it is the young physician who is shocked to meet his wife, as Yuwen was the sweetheart he was forced to leave behind to attend medical school. As spring blossoms so does Yuwen's hope for renewed love -- but not for her husband. The husband is happy that all three know one another but Yuwen, despite her downcast eyes, makes it clear to Zhichen that she still wants him.

The doctor's presence in the gloomy house seems to have a salutary effect. He assures his friend he does not have tuberculosis, teaches the younger sister how to waltz and has the family go on a boat outing where they enthusiastically sing to the melody of "The Blue Danube." All the while, however, he is mindful of his duty of friendship to Liyan while being unable to deny the attraction he still feels for Yuwen.

Energized by the doctor, Liyan hopes that he will stay and become engaged to Xiu but the girl's16th birthday party sets the stage for unexpectedly dramatic developments.

Based on a classic 1948 Chinese film of the same name and directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang, the movie exquisitely captures an atmosphere of almost mournful melancholy and the characters' acute sense of yearning. Indeed, the scene in which the doctor teaches the teens in Xiu's class how to waltz brings some much-needed lightness to the narrative's sorrowful tone.

The director prizes subtlety above all and although the pace is much slower than American films, the rewards are plentiful, including the visual beauty of the cinematography. The story is a reflection on virtue preserved at great personal cost. Simple visuals -- a flower, a scarf trapped in a tree, a bedroom whose latticework walls evoke a cell -- serve as apt metaphors for the themes of duty, honor, friendship and fidelity that are being explored. With rigorous simplicity the film dramatizes how being good is not always easy and how painful it can be to accept that virtue is its own reward.

While the story ends on a morally correct note, there's an air of mystery as to the wife's true intentions: Will she now open her heart to love the man who was willing to end his life for the sake of her happiness, or is she simply resigned to fulfilling her duty-bound responsibilities ? Patient viewers will have this to consider upon leaving this tender, exceptional film.

Subtitles.

Because of an attempted suicide, the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

These movies have been evaluated for artistic merit and moral suitability by the media reviewing division of Catholic News Service. The reviews include the CNS rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

A-I -- general patronage;
A-II -- adults and adolescents;
A-III -- adults;
L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
O -- morally offensive.

Note: Some movies previously were designated A-IV. Older films with this classification should be regarded as classified L.