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Pavilion
of Women, 2001, 116 minutes, Rated R
By Carla Robinson
Luo
Yan, who plays main character Madame Wu, spearheaded Pavilion of Women
and that's where the most engaging story is. Once a famous actress in
China, Yan came to the US fifteen years ago with only sixty dollars in
hand and, although she didn't speak English, she ultimately managed to
scrape her way through UCLA for a master's degree. Simultaneously, she
started an import/export company that's still running. Instead of
complaining about the dearth of roles available to Chinese-American
actresses, she decided to create her own. She chose Pearl S. Buck's
Pavilion for adaptation because it had potential for cross-cultural
appeal, then went about co-writing the script while working to secure
financing from sources in both the US and China. She not only
co-produced the project, but, when the budget got tight, she picked up
the camera and shot some scenes herself.
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The finished product is
less interesting than the woman behind it, but it is worthy of a
Blockbuster night. (Pay no attention to its high-minded passes at
feminism when you read blurbs on the video box, it's not a film that
has anything in particular to impart.) Set in China at the outset of
World War II, Pavilion introduces us to Madame Wu on her 40th
birthday. To escape what would otherwise be a life sentence of
servitude, Madame Wu has secured her spoiled, wealthy husband a
concubine as a birthday present to herself. Everyone is surprised by
this unconventional tactic, but she insists that she has lived up to
expectations long enough. Never mind that she's stunning and vibrant,
all she wants is to spend her days reading books and relaxing by the
lily pond.
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Madame Wu brings in a dewy, resigned
country girl named Chiuming (Yi Ding) to take up her wifely duties.
The film becomes a bit sticky at this point. It's difficult to like
Madame Wu as we watch her work to hang an albatross around an innocent
young woman's neck. And work she must, for her husband prefers Wu's
sexual dexterity to the fumbling Chiuming's pitiful attempts, and he
never fully fancies his new wife the way Madame Wu had hoped.
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It's not long before Madame Wu finds her
quiet reading days ignited by her lust for an American priest who's
been hired to tutor her youngest son, Fengmo (John Cho). And it's even
less time before Fengmo and Chiuming, young and nubile pair that they
are, start a little fire of their own. The priest is played by Willem
Dafoe, who brings a brand of calm to the role that's sometimes
disarming, particularly when he and Madame Wu literally find
themselves rolling in the hay, a time when one might expect a higher
degree of excitement from a man who presumably has been laboring under
a vow of celibacy. From there, the film concerns itself with the
standard romantic drama fare - how and when the couples will manage to
ride off into the sunset.
M
October 2001
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