Jan. 20, 2012 at 1:13pm
Directed, acted and penned by Jiang Lifen, one of China’s up-and-coming women filmmakers, White Gardenia has keen insight into the lives of women and shows that insight with great conviction, depicting how women in crisis struggle with decisions that will affect their lives and future happiness. White Gardenia tells a traditional story of romance set against wartime China. With a nod to Madame Bovary and tales of women who choose family but long for the spotlight, Jiang herself portrays the main character, Yang Liuqing. Yang’s outwardly contented life as a mother and wife begins to crack as events cause her past to resurface – memories of her career as a famous Yue Opera singer in Shanghai, a life that ended with the Japanese attack in 1937. The plot is simple and archetypal, the characters compelling and real.

Directed, acted and penned by Jiang Lifen, one of China’s up-and-coming women filmmakers, White Gardenia has keen insight into the lives of women and shows that insight with great conviction, depicting how women in crisis struggle with decisions that will affect their lives and future happiness. White Gardenia tells a traditional story of romance set against wartime China. With a nod to Madame Bovary and tales of women who choose family but long for the spotlight, Jiang herself portrays the main character, Yang Liuqing. Yang’s outwardly contented life as a mother and wife begins to crack as events cause her past to resurface – memories of her career as a famous Yue Opera singer in Shanghai, a life that ended with the Japanese attack in 1937. The plot is simple and archetypal, the characters compelling and real.