DUMPLINGS

Hong Kong, 2005, 91 minutes, Colour.
Bai Ling Tony Leung Ka Fei.
Directed by Fruit Chan.

Should anyone walk into this film, thinking it might be a nice cooking show, even with a touch of Asian comedy, beware… That’s how it starts: an oddball, goofily dressed middle-aged woman (Bai Ling) does the shopping and then cooks dumplings for which she has a great reputation. Even a retired glamorous actress comes to her home to eat these dumplings. So far, so good.

I am not sure at what stage one realises that the dumplings are a means for rejuvenating complexion and skin – and that our cook is in her mid-60s (a solid advertisement for her wares). It means then that the film is targeting wealthy Chinese (and others) who have too much money, too much time and too little sense and self-esteem that they will devote all their energies to looking young again. The actress is having a hard time as her husband is a notorious philanderer.

But, that is not the worst part. It is the contents of the dumplings.

The film becomes a very dark satire when we discover that the special contents of the dumplings are actually human foetuses. This means that the characters act vilely, completely amoral, completely self-absorbed. And their behaviour gets no better. The cook seduces the husband and the actress devotes herself entirely to the dumplings.

It is appropriate to say that the film is often hard to stomach. But, the intention of the director is to highlight this 21st century self-centredness, this worst of new age toying with potions and remedies and the inability to accept ageing and its consequences. This is satire and satirists often seem to be angry perfectionists who are so disgusted with human behaviour that they immerse their audiences in the ugliness to make their points. Not an easy or a pleasant experience.

1. The innocuous title? Misleading audiences – leading them into a deeper confrontation, harsh satire?

2. The Chinese settings, homes, middle-class? The world of the cook? Her kitchen? The world of television? TV stars? Musical score?

3. The opening, the audience being led into the kitchen, Aunt Mei and work, reputation, the dumplings themselves?

4. The female vanity, wanting to look forever young, the dumplings in the contributing to this, the actress and her wanting the treatment?

5. The revelation of the contents of the dumplings, the human foetuses? The information about 30,000 abortions in China? The availability for the dumplings?

6. Aunt Mei, her personality, the cooking, the husband of the actress, seductive behaviour? The affair?

7. The actress, her fears, losing her reputation, impending age? Wanting the dumplings? Getting the recipe and cooking herself? Her impatience, the young girl and her pregnancy?

8. Aunt Mei, the young girl, the incest, pregnancy, the potential for the dumplings?

9. The husband, his affairs, marriage to the actress, the relationship with Aunt Mei?

10. Audience response to this kind of story, the glossy treatment, the dire reality, and whether this could happen in real life or not?

11. The film as a critique, self-centredness, complacent easy living? The role of savage satire for moral critique?