MATRIMONY

China, 2007, 89 minutes, Colour.
Leon Lai, René Liu, Bingbing Fan.
Directed by Hua- Tao Teng.
Matrimony is a brief Chinese ghost story, beginning with a woman reading a story over the radio and the plot returning to that story.

The setting is in Shanghai, recreated interestingly in the first few minutes, in the 1930s.

However, the focus is on three people. There is the hero who was about to propose to his girlfriend but she is killed in an accident in the Shanghai streets. Inconsolable, he is persuaded by his mother to marry a woman whom he does not love. She is upset, finds a key, goes into a room in the house where she finds a shrine to the dead woman.

But, she also experiences the ghost of the woman who wants to occupy her body to be in touch, however temporarily, with the man she loved.

The man is caught between the two women, touching his wife and finding the presence of the ghost but still thinking it was his wife – which, of course, leads to some kind of dramatic confrontation.

1. A Chinese ghost story? Asian perspectives on ghosts, hauntings, retribution, horror?

2. The title, the focus, the framework of the woman reading the ghost story on the radio, resuming, its relevance to the action of the film?

3. Shanghai, the 1930s, the city, the streets, the vehicles, the trams? The radio station? Workplaces? The musical score?

4. Junchu, his reticence, the reaction of Manli, in the street, his waving, prepared to propose, her crossing the street, her being hit by the vehicle, her death?

5. Junchu, his grief, Time passing? Coping with his grief, the flashbacks and the development of his relationship with Manli?

6. His withdrawal, his work, the role of his mother, the pressure on him? Sansan and his being persuaded to marry her? Not loving her?

7. Sansan, in the house, the treatment by the mother, by Junchu, ignoring her?

8. Her curiosity, the key, finding the room, the memorabilia of Manli, Junchu finding her, reprimanding her?

9. The encounter with Manli, the ghost, their discussions, the interaction between the two women? Manli, her wanting to enter into Sansan’s body, to touch Junchu? Sansan allowing it?

10. The consequences, the arrangement between the two women, reactions of Junchu, Manley’s touch, Junchu and his sensing Sansan?

11. The buildup to the drama, Junchu in the middle, the two women, Manli’s plans, the execution?

12. Audience interest in ghost stories – especially the serious kind like this one?