The Farewell - MIND THE SPOLIERS!
Oct. 9th, 2019 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearOn Monday, I went to see The Farewell, which is about a Chinese family faking a wedding so they can go and visit the family matriarch without telling her she has cancer.
I'd heard a lot of good things about this film, and I did enjoy it. It's very low-key - despite the subject matter, it's not very emotive or melodramatic. It's just about ordinary people going about their lives and experiencing the difficulties associated with an aging family member who lives in another country.
The discussions about whether or not it's right to hide the grandmother's diagnosis from her were interesting, as well as the portrayal of the various family relationships and how they are affected by family members growing up in different cultures.
The film is based on the director's own struggles with her family's decision not to tell her grandmother she is supposedly dying, and the inner conflict of the protagonist is demonstrated very effectively. However, after the last shot, there's a short video of the director's real grandmother, with a caption saying she's still alive six years after her diagnosis. This really confused me, because it seemed to suggest lying to her was the right thing to do (as one of the characters in the film says a reason for the lie is so that the grandmother doesn't give up on life). But the protagonist was firmly against the lie all the way through, so this post-film bit seems to contradict the whole movie.
Still, it was very well put together, the performances were good, and the issues were complex and interesting.
I'd heard a lot of good things about this film, and I did enjoy it. It's very low-key - despite the subject matter, it's not very emotive or melodramatic. It's just about ordinary people going about their lives and experiencing the difficulties associated with an aging family member who lives in another country.
The discussions about whether or not it's right to hide the grandmother's diagnosis from her were interesting, as well as the portrayal of the various family relationships and how they are affected by family members growing up in different cultures.
The film is based on the director's own struggles with her family's decision not to tell her grandmother she is supposedly dying, and the inner conflict of the protagonist is demonstrated very effectively. However, after the last shot, there's a short video of the director's real grandmother, with a caption saying she's still alive six years after her diagnosis. This really confused me, because it seemed to suggest lying to her was the right thing to do (as one of the characters in the film says a reason for the lie is so that the grandmother doesn't give up on life). But the protagonist was firmly against the lie all the way through, so this post-film bit seems to contradict the whole movie.
Still, it was very well put together, the performances were good, and the issues were complex and interesting.
