Saving Face

This is Alice Wu's directorial debut and it is a worthy first film.

We people of European heritage are aware of those of Asian extraction living with us here in the US. They dress like us and talk like us and work side-by-side with us, but we are not always aware of how different their lives are, especially if their parents or grandparents came from the old country.

This movie is about three generations of Chinese people. The older the generation, the more they embody and want to perpetuate their traditional Chinese values.

Ma (Joan Chen, the only really well-known actor in the movie) plays Ma, a 48 year old widow with a late-20's surgeon-in-training daughter named Wil (Michelle Krumiec). She seems intent on getting Wil married, pressuring her to go to social events and seeing to it that eligible men pay attention to her.

The problem is that Wil is a lesbian.

At one of the socials, Wil encounters a beautiful girl named Vivian (Lynn Chen, as far as I know, no relation to Joan Chen). Vivian is a ballet dancer taking time off to do modern dance. They hit it off, and after some false starts are having sex.

Wil wants to keep this a secret because it would embarrass her family.

Meanwhile, her mother, Ma, who has been living with her own parents (Wil's grandparents) since being widowed, is kicked out and moves in with Wil. Wil's attempts to find out what her mother did are to no avail for a while, but she eventually discovers that her mother is pregnant and will not admit who the father of the child is.

Ma is causing her parents to lose face, and Wil is afraid of causing her mother to lose face, so this is where the title of the movie comes from.

Vivian is much more the free spirit and insists upon meeting Wil's mother. After much hesitation, Wil caves in and there is an uncomfortable (for them...humorous for us) dinner scene with Ma asking questions and getting accurate but misleading answers. Does she know that her daughter and this beautiful woman are lovers?

Ma's father decides that Ma must marry to remain in the family, so we see her go on a series of dates with strange men.

Meanwhile, Vivian is becoming dissatisfied with Wil's unwillingness to make their relationship public. When she receives an invitation to work in Paris, it's time for Wil to decide what she wants of Vivian, who, if she accepts, will be gone for four years.

This is a well-made and engaging movie from one end to the other. It's hard to believe that it's Alice Wu's first foray into directing. The actors, even those with relatively small parts, most of them absolute unknowns, are all quite good.

The three leading women (Joan Chen, Michelle Krusiec, and Lynn Chen) are all superb. Joan Chen is still quite beautiful at 46 and the other two gals, who are topless in one scene by the way, are extremely beautiful.

Many people avoid "chick flicks" and the idea of it being about a lesbian relationship will also keep some away. That would be a shame. This is a fine movie if not a great one, and it's well worth a trip to your local art house.