Er nai cun: Sha fu

Fairly routine and rather pedestrian melodrama, telling the tale of a guy who leaves his wife in Hong Kong while he goes with others to set up a business on the mainland. There is some interest in the mainland shots and the obvious differences in life style between the two China's and the main leads are well played. It's just that as this develops into a marital triangle we are not really that interested. Plus, as we know this is a Cat3 film we are rather surprised at the coyness of the rare sex scenes. There is a rather unusual 'solution' to the fact that the guy now has a wife and a lover and we wonder if we are to stray into 'Jules et Jim' territory but this is no intellectual European flick. We are clearly in Hong Kong, but it is not until the surprising and amazingly graphic and bloody finale that we suddenly awaken from our slumber. Looks to me as if this was a rather cynical ploy to get a Cat3 rating and try to provoke interest in an otherwise fairly ordinary film. By the way the title should really be, The Woman Left Behind but if I complain too much I might be asked to correct all the subtitles too!