【电影简介】

上世纪二十至四十年代的中国，那是一个民气十足、海阔天空的时代，一群年轻人经历了一段放任自流的时光，自由地追求梦想与爱情，有人在流离中刻骨求爱，有人在抗争中企盼家国未来。萧红，一个特立独行的女子，一路流亡，从北方到南方，从哈尔滨到香港，一边躲避战乱，一边经历着令人唏嘘又痛彻心扉的爱情与人生。对生的坚强对死的挣扎在她笔下穿透纸背，她的人生亦是如此。

【音频文本】

Before seeing Chinese director Ann Hui's latest offering "The Golden Era", I was compelled to do a bit of homework, because this biopic of Chinese writer Xiao Hong seemed pretty daunting to anyone who is not familiar with Chinese literary circles in the early 20th century. However, after a grueling three-hour-long screening, I found these efforts totally unnecessary.

"The Golden Era" is along the same line of the director's usual creative impulse of telling stories from afeminine perspective. Her version of Xiao Hong is a girl who spent her entire life running away from patriarchal control, yet had to rely on men at each step she took. It was an era when traditional values began to dissolve along with the collapse of China's last imperial dynasty, but it was not at all a golden era for women.

At about the age of 20, Xiao Hong eloped with a young man to escape her abusive father and an arranged marriage. Her conspirator of a boyfriend abandoned her when hotel bills swelled beyond their means. Confined by the hotel owner who threatened to sell her to a brothel, a pregnant Xiao Hong wrote to a local newspaper asking for help. That was how she met Xiao Jun, a married man and the editor of the newspaper who later became her partner both in life and in her literary career. With the encouragement of Xiao Jun, Xiao Hong began the life of a writer and gradually established her name among the literary circles. But eventually the couple split up due to different life choices and Xiao Hong married another man, a couple of years before she died of tuberculosis.

The film was expected to include a panorama of Chinese literary figures of Xiao Hong's time and to offer an insight into that part of Chinese history. It was a reasonable expectation because the director had three hours to fill, with nothing but the 31-year of Xiao's tragically short life. However Ann Hui hardly paidany heed to characters other than the most important men in Xiao's life. As for the turbulent and eventfulhistory, that was scarcely the concern for Xiao Hong the writer, and was therefore given minimum attention.The focus of the film remains on the fate of the female writer in relation to the men in her life.

Some critics also lashed out at the director's experiment with the narrative format. Much of Xiao Hong's life remains a myth due to contradicting accounts offered by her contemporaries. These accounts are frequently brought up as interludes in the film, where the speakers often address the audience directly. Such arrangement may seem a bit strange and could create a false sense of authenticity. But "The Golden Era" is not to be mistaken for a documentary; it is merely a conduit for the expression of feminine ideas.

Lead actress Tang Wei is not to blame for a character that's constantly in sight but never in focus; she'sdone her best to portray a mystical woman within the constrains of the script. Feng Shaofeng, Wang Zhiwen and Zhu Yawen also present as much skill as is needed in the plot.

"The Golden Era" is a film for a niche audience; it is not likely to make much of a dent at the box office.But I'm sure it'll resonate among the most understanding critics and viewers.

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