Film

Tuya's Marriage (2007)

Director: Wang Quanan

Movie review

From Time Out Chicago

There’s a sly sense of humor quietly lurking beneath the ethnographic-drama surface of Tuya’s Marriage. Certainly, you can miss that fact, what with the stunning vistas of Inner Mongolia’s rolling steppe and the mostly grim prospects faced by Tuya (Yu), a tougher-than-nails woman confronted with an awkward marital dilemma. Her husband, Bater (Bater), has been permanently disabled in a well-digging accident, leaving Tuya and their young kids to herd the sheep, fetch water from a distant well (since Bater never did complete that well…) and keep them all from starving.

Tuya decides to save them all by divorcing Bater and marrying someone else, but only on the condition that this new hubby support Bater. Even in the wilds of Inner Mongolia, where morality adapts to pragmatic concerns, this idea doesn’t go over big with most suitors. But then, we already know with whom Tuya ought to end up, since her playfully belligerent relationship with their neighbor Sen’ge looks so much like the combative prelude to love in a romantic comedy. If these two crazy kids can just admit their attraction, then Tuya, Bater and Sen’ge can live happily, if unconventionally, ever after.

Of course, Tuya spends a fair amount of time looking at a wealthier suitor (Baolier), which delays the logical resolution. Wang strikes a remarkable balance, such that you could understand this as a romantic comedy or as an earnest feminist drama critiquing a patriarchal society. The surprise is that Wang can do both at once.