2020, Taiwan.
At dawn, 70-year-old Lin Xiuying came to the vegetable market early.
She is not an ordinary grocery shopping aunt.
She is a famous strong woman in Tainan:
A woman started her business by selling shrimps on the street stalls, and has been a big restaurant in Tainan that is well known to everyone...
her husband ran away with the woman, she forced her three daughters to raise her. Now that her daughter has grown up, each with excellent ones:
The eldest daughter is an international dancer, the second daughter is a well-known plastic surgery doctor in Taipei, and the third daughter inherits the family business...
In short, when Tainan people mention this woman, they all speak "Ms. Lin" and admire her extremely...
Today is Lin Xiuying's 70th birthday.
This is a big deal. Three daughters, son-in-law, granddaughter, and a large group of relatives and friends came from all over the world to celebrate...
However, before the banquet was about to begin, a bad news came:
Her husband, who had been missing for many years, died unexpectedly...
Not only that, her husband who had been unwilling to go home before his death repeatedly told him to be buried at his home in Tainan after his death...
Looking at the body of her husband who had not seen for more than ten years, Lin Xiuying was in a complicated mood for a moment:
has not been in contact for more than ten years, and she will come back to cause trouble after death. How can this be true? !
At the same time, she also noticed that it was a woman who sent her husband back...
Who is this woman?
She has always been very strong, but she "lost" in love. This is not her style...
So, at the age of 70, even though it was late at night after the banquet, she still pulled her granddaughter to the hospital and checked the woman's phone number. Not only that, after learning the woman's address, she also chased her to Taipei without telling her daughter...
As expected, that woman was the mistress who snatched her husband from her hands back then!
Just when she was about to confront her mistress, she didn't expect that the woman in front of her was very different from what she imagined...
And on the other hand, the daughters who have always made her proud also face their own life difficulties:
The eldest daughter is free and carefree in the first half of her life, but in the second half of her life the danger of cancer recurrence...
The second daughter has a successful career, but she is helpless in the face of her rebellious daughter...
This seemingly warm family, several women in the family, are all in their own life crises...
https://www.net.com.
At last year's Golden Horse Awards, Chen Shufang, who played Lin Xiuying, won the Best Actress for the film. At the age of 81, she is the oldest winner in the history of Golden Horse. The actor who won the Best Actress for "Who Falls in Love with Him First" Xie Yingxuan was also nominated for the Best Supporting Actress again.
Not only that, the film has many nominations: Best New Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Film Music, Best Original Film Song, and It can be said to be a very powerful dark horse.
Some netizens commented: A not-so-complex story, a plain and gentle family film, but I cried. Taiwan’s customs and culture are so delicate and moving, making me feel like childhood memories inexplicably...
Chen Shufang decoration Lin Xiuying
Xie Yingxuan decoration Chen Wanqing
Indeed, 70% of the scenes in this film are filmed in Tainan, and there are many local customs in the film:
For example, if a newly pregnant person has to tie a red silk thread on his stomach to bless the child’s safety…
For example, if you want to eat grapefruit in the Mid-Autumn Festival, the grapefruit skin must be broken into the shape of petals and worn on the children’s heads, which means “youzi”…
For example, "moon water" must be washed in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Only those who have washed the moon water will be as beautiful as the moon...
In addition to the local customs and customs, there are many moving Taiwanese scenery in this film. These scenery is useful in the hands of the director:
such as Fishing Light Island in Anping, Tainan.
Yuguang Island is most famous for its sunset, but in this drama, the director chose to shoot the early morning scene.
The fishing island in the morning is not as gentle as at sunset, but rather gusts of wind, turbulent waves, , the moss is deep, and there is a risk of sliding down at any time...
And this just reflects the mood of the eldest daughter played by Xie Yingxuan: she has relapsed from cancer, and her life is threatened, and she is at risk of falling to death at any time...
Speaking of Xie Yingxuan, her performance in this drama is quite exciting:
In the film, she is free and carefree, pursues freedom, and has loved many men in her life, and has also loved many men with many men in her life. Together, in this traditional family, she is completely different from other sisters and mothers. She is always the kind of person who is a little out of place...
And Xie Yingxuan's performance is very clever, maybe a cigarette, a raised eyebrow, or a shrugging...
In short, in everything that is wonderful, she doesn't even need to say anything, standing there, you can feel that sense of edge, you can know that she is different from others...
What's more vivid is that when she learned that her cancer had recurred in the play, her first reaction was not to collapse and cry, but to smile gently.
If crying still has the meaning of resistance and struggle, then laughing is more absurd and helpless about fate, which is obvious that the latter is more in line with her personality...
And when she told her lover the news of her cancer recurrence, she seemed to be talking about other people's affairs at first, but then her nose turned red, and then she finally collapsed and cried...
the whole process is very contagious. This woman, who is careless and carefree, she shed tears for the first time in the face of life and death, and she was so helpless and unwilling to let you cry together when you watch it...
And another veteran actor, Chen Shufang, has no need to say about her acting skills. Many complex emotions are naturally revealed when she raises her eyebrows and lowers her head:
When she hears her granddaughter recites the love letter her husband gave her back then, she almost inaudible sighs, showing the sadness and feelings of many years to the fullest...
And the last crying scene in the Luermen Tianhou Harem, she interpreted the strength, grievance, reserve and out of control of a 70-year-old woman just right, and the scene just makes people feel sour...
Back to the drama, the most attractive character in the drama is undoubtedly the mother played by Chen Shufang.
She is very different from traditional women.
She has always been strong:
When I was young, she learned that her husband had cheated on him, and she took a kitchen knife to find him.
Her husband ran away from home, and she gritted her teeth and raised her three daughters alone.
Even when she is old, she is still a "ruthless person":
is a 70th birthday and learns her husband's death, and still dresses up and treats everyone well...
is exhausted after a banquet, but she has to chase after the hospital in the middle of the night to ask who the mistress is...
is a person who openly opposes etiquette at her husband's funeral and challenges Taoist master:
When the Taoist guru asked everyone to kneel down and be filial, she retorted, "Don't kneel! He didn't support you, why kneel?"
There is a scene, which is very interesting:
The mistress invited Buddhist friends to salvation for her husband. The Buddhist friends recited scriptures in unison in front of the mourning hall. Lin Xiuying was so angry that she called her Taoist teacher...
So, the mourning hall once became a scene of fighting each other:
0 On one side is the sound of reciting scriptures louder and louder, on the other side are the sound of various Taoist teachers, and the sound of musical instruments is becoming more and more urgent...
0 Buddha and Taoist schools, in a mourning hall, they use eighteen weapons as if they are performing a duel...
even their granddaughter couldn't help but say: Is this a battle?
In short, she is a strong woman. In her dictionary, there is never the word "forget it".
But at the same time, she also has the mark of the tradition of that era:
For example, her husband has long been dead in name only, but she still attaches great importance to the engagement at that time, and even after her husband passed away, she still holds a decent funeral for him. In her opinion, once a marriage is formed, it will be a lifelong thing...
For example, after her husband left, she acted as My father is also a mother. He treats his three daughters with a traditional parent-general system. He interferes with all aspects of his daughters, making them unable to breathe...
In short, she is a contradictory and complex character. She will smile when you see her childish side, feel depressed when she is too strong, and feel worthwhile to keep her marriage for her...
not only Lin Xiuying, but also shows various female characters in the film. These female group portraits form a complex and real family.
Many netizens commented: It's too real, I'll watch my series...
And the most real thing in the film is the story of Lin Xiuying, his second daughter Chen Wanyu, and his granddaughter Xiao Cheng, three generations.
Among the three daughters, Lin Xiuying is most satisfied with the second daughter.
The second daughter is a famous plastic surgeon, her husband is also a famous doctor, and the two have a daughter, and they have both career and family.
Her personality is most like herself. She has to be strong and never admit defeat since she was a child. In the eyes of others, her second daughter is like a copy of her. The sensible second daughter and mother should be the same as her.
But in fact, they seem to be close, but they are the farthest apart from each other:
For a long time, Lin Xiuying asked her daughter to study medicine. In her opinion, as long as she studies medicine, her daughter can get rid of the fate of being a roadside stall, and live a good life like her two younger brothers who also study medicine...
And in an argument, her always sensible daughter finally blurted out: I am not a doctor to make money, but for you!
study medicine is not her true wish, but just the idea imposed by her mother...
. On the other hand, Chen Wanyu, who had no choice in his life, would send his daughter to study abroad no matter what. In her opinion, studying abroad, life is not just about studying, exams, getting married and having children, but also about having more choices...
But this just deprived Xiao Cheng of the choice, just as Xiao Cheng said: Going abroad is your choice, how can you give me a choice!
self-conceived freedom is actually a shackle for children.
How many people are the same? They can do everything they can to determine the whole life of their children, so that they have the freedom they have never had, but forget to understand whether this is what the other party really wants to have...
We are so similar that we think we can understand each other, just like Lin Xiuying and her second daughter, but often under the same roof, it is normal to have a heart-wrenching relationship. There are always the closest strangers between families...
And what is more true is that perhaps we have been hurt by our parents and know that the actions of the previous generation are not advisable, but they will do the same harm to their children in countless moments, just like Chen Wanyu's strength and persecution to his daughter, very much like the way his mother treated herself back then...
Compared to the heavy burden of oneself, it seems that the truth of more families is the...
But even if you are wrong, even if you cannot truly understand each other in the end, you can still love each other based on your instinct:
is like Xiao Cheng, who has always been rebellious. Even in a quarrel, he will understand the helplessness behind his mother's desire to speak but stopping...
It seems that although in Lin Xiuying's opinion, being a doctor is still a good choice, but seeing the life her daughter has been carrying for this, she has always been strong, and the late "sorry" finally spoke out...
In the end, Chen Wanyu looked at her daughter thinking. Of course, she hoped that her daughter would achieve something like her, and even have more life choices than herself. But at this moment, looking at her crying daughter, her persistence in her heart was shaken, and maybe letting go is a better choice...
After all, love is not about doing what I think is right, but about choosing to respect and support and letting the other party be the real self.
And all of this is like my favorite scene in the movie:
At night, the eldest sister and the third sister were lying on the bed. They talked about each other like they were when they were young. The handicrafts they did when they were young. When they touched the handicrafts, they inadvertently held hands...
My elder sister said: actually doesn’t need to hold ten fingers tightly, just hold them like this...
Maybe you can’t always connect with each other’s fingers, but we can still hold each other’s hand unconditionally and let the other be brave enough to be ourselves. This is family...
