Il matrimonio di Tuya

Wang Quanan's fascinating film "Tuya's Marriage" is a quietly powerful story of female reverence, shot on location against the arresting landscapes of deepest Mongolia, with its immensely graceful protagonist being the prepossessing shepherdess Tuya (Nan Yu), caught between a marital loophole and the tightening grip of subsistence when she's forced to look for a new husband willing to take care of her young children and an invalid ex-husband. Austere and gorgeous, Wang's observations on the encroaching capitalism in a rural land so entrenched in tradition and its collective, scuttles from background to foreground when Tuya explores her options and their economic viability. Wisely eschewing a formal romanticism of the arena, Wang takes us deeper into the all-encompassing humanism of the film, when he chooses a cogitative docu-drama approach to the film, a striking reminder that a film's aesthetics are part of its ethos and message. Triumphing at the 2007 Berlinale with the festival's top prize, Wang delivers a film so complex and rich that it finds its tracts in the human capacity for compassion and sorrow.

This is an exotic film that recalls other indigenous Mongolian tales by Byambasuren Davaa such as The Story of the Weeping Camel (2003) or The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005). It also has much in common with the Tibetan film Himalaya (1999) and rural Iranian cinema. The story, like that in each of these other films, is very simple - a woman's husband is incapacitated and she seeks a new man who will support the old.

The cinematography is beautiful with the harshness of the inner Mongolian landscape captured aesthetically. Dialogue is sparse, and the film is very observational, documenting a way of life that is gradually receding into the past. The herding and riding of animals, the digging of wells, the visits from potential suitors and other aspects of rural life are nicely captured, and contrast against the oncoming tide of modernity.

Thematically, the film has more in common with Breaking the Waves (1996), my favourite Lars von Trier film. There is both humour and heartbreak as the story unfolds. I didn't find the film quite as effective as Weeping Camel but a nice bit of cultural diversity that's worth seeing.

I just finished watching Tuya's marriage at the Berlin Film Festival and would rate it 8/10. The movie deals with a herder woman in Inner Mongolia who decides to divorce because her husband is sick and unable to care for her and the family. Since she still loves him, any prospective new husband must promise to care for her and the kids as well as for her old husband.

The plot may sound a bit constructed, but it actually works remarkably well. The pictures are great, and after D. Byambasuren's rather static movies this is finally a drama set in the steppes. The most important thing is probably that the movie takes its subjects seriously. Maybe a bit too seriously at times, but not that seriously that it disturbs the movie.

So, why not giving it 10/10? I missed the Mongolian language. Of course language isn't everything (see Mongolian Pingpong or Apocalypto), but when even the drinking habits are dealt with in greatest detail, why didn't they bother to find a cast that can speak Mongolian? I asked the director about why they used Chinese (that's what you go on film festivals for), but his answer was not really convincing. I suppose some opportunistic reason, like the main actress can't speak Mongolian. Anyway, this only means that you can as well enjoy this movie in a dubbed version.

In short: Definitely recommended.

In my opinion, I do not believe that Tuya's Marriage is close to the movie I would recommend to everyone. The reason being is that it is slow paced, and does not truly go with any genre that I have dealt with in movies. But, this is why I am so intrigued by it, even though it is slow, it touched on important topics in world geography and people's lives and how they are affected when fate is unkind. I believe that this movie, even though it is not one I would recommend to everyone, is something that truly shows hardships and problems that happen in Inner Mongolia (which is situated in China). This movie does not really fall into a specific genre outside of extreme drama, but it is hard to realize this unless you take time after watching it to ponder the plot and the points made inside it. I think this is a movie more for someone looking to widen their eyes to problems in the world, and that want to understand how it can be in a certain place if tragedy strikes.

One of he most interesting films from chines mainland. There are no stunt fights, no killings. This is a human story with human complexities and how a strong woman tries to solve her problem. He enduring love and affections for her disabled husband and her children constitute the main theme. In the background there is another actor, THE LANDSCAPE. Even though the steppe land with brushes and those mountains are harsh to the inhabitants, on screen it looks breathtaking. The film shows how women were doing back-breaking chores(literally in this case) for ages for which man has to be thankful and gracious to her. An absorbing film to watch.