There’s an overtly Freudian feel to Wang Fen’s The Case, which is fitting for a film is set in Yunnan, a province whose emphasis on the matriarch is well noted. Despite that, the focus of the story is Dashang, a man wallowing in convalescence who runs a guesthouse with his controlling and distrustful wife. It’s the ying and yang of their tempestuous relationship that provides most of the humor. But rather than siding with the wife, the sympathy of the film seems to fall on Dashang, a man who wears the expression of someone who’s conceded defeat to the world.
Amidst this melodrama, Dashang’s life takes a turn for the weird when he discovers a seemingly innocuous case drifting down the river near his home. Temptation gets the better of him, and he conceals it in his greenhouse, breaking the lock to reveal its gruesome contents. The discovery has a disastrous affect on Dashang, amplifying his repressed feelings of guilt, lust and frustration. To make matters worse, shortly after the case appears, a bewitching temptress and her husband take up residence in the couple’s guesthouse. Wang Sifei plays the role of femme fatal with a smoldering sexuality rarely seen in Chinese cinema, and for Dashang, the guilt of possessing the case, sexual temptation and pressure from his wife converge into a crescendo of inner panic.
Director Wang Fei’s debut feature (she previously worked as an actor and documentarian) is accomplished and well executed piece of cinema. The film moves along at a rapid rate, with the editing, spooky soundtrack and acting all contributing to the frenetic and claustrophobic feel. Wang has been quoted as saying that he film is concerned with the space between fantasy and reality and the film certainly has those qualities. Without wishing to give too much away, the ending of the film will be a divisive point for viewers (lets just say the film breaks Rule Number 1 taught in most creative writing classes in college).
The Case has been somewhat hard to classify with it being labeled everything from black comedy to psychological thriller, but it’s best to regard the flick as plucky independent, serving as a welcome middle ground between mainstream fluff and the consciously serious work that China’s realist directors are concerned with. For me, Wang Fei has played out a miniature Hitchcock thriller in Yunnan. For a debut offering the film has enough to warrant a viewing, and also point to a potentially promising career for the director.
Links:
Yunnan New Film Project
Trailer