SUMMER PALACE

China, 2006, 140 minutes, Colour.
Lei Hao, Xiadong Guo.
Directed by Lou Ye.

Despite so many good features of Summer Palace, it is, in the end, deeply unsatisfying. This may be a male point of view as the central focus is on a female character who is not only a puzzle to the men in her lives, especially those who fall in love with her, but she remains an enigma to herself. The film is based on her diary where she confides the passions, the confusion, the poetry and the wilful destructiveness that control her life and prevent her from living up to the ideal she craves and settling, however temporarily, for less than she might have.

There is so much material in the plot that, as it hurries over some episodes and dwells lengthily on others, it resembles a miniseries edited for the cinema. And what the director has chosen to include and what he has chosen to pass over is not necessarily what the audience wants – or needs, to understand the characters and their motivation a little better. The action ranges from 1987 to 2003.

But there is much well worth seeing. China has been changing over the last two decades, especially in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution and its cultural repression. By the late 1980s, students were living and demanding a ‘freer’ lifestyle, closer to that of the west. The demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989 have become symbols of this desire for change. The characters here are caught up in the movement - and footage from the time is inserted. However, there are no spelt out reasons for this revolutionary student movement. It is presented as a fact (although the deaths in June are not featured).

The collage of the changes of the 1980s and 1990s in Berlin and Russia forms an interesting backdrop to the characters’ lives.

So, this is an opportunity to share the experiences of a director who lived through these events with friends like those depicted. Utopia was not achieved. A number of young people moved to Europe. Some remained in China and virtually drifted, not fulfilling their potential.

Yu Hung is the central character, portrayed by Lei Hao in a very complex performance: an enigma. Her first passionate encounter with a local boy is sensitively portrayed for its effect on her (we are not used to Chinese films being so explicit and frank in sexual scenes). When she arrives as a student in Beijing (and the Summer Palace is situated next to the university: something of a Utopian symbol?), she falls wildly in love with a young man who is passionate about her. But, spurred on by some imaginary ideal, she spoils the relationship. Rescued from Beijing by her first love, she moves away from home, picking up with a married man, with another young man smitten by her, by…

Other characters move to Germany with varying degrees of happiness and success.

There is much to admire but a lot of frustration in what sometimes seem arbitrary shifts of time, place and attention to characters (of course, life is like that).

1. The director’s own experience? China in the 1980s and 1990s? The re-creation of the period? Its being personalised by these stories?

2. The location photography: the provinces and the Korean border, the country towns, the atmosphere of the 80s? Beijing, the city, the university, the late 1980s? The collage of transitions in Berlin, Moscow? China in the 1990s, progress and prosperity? The cities and the provinces? The comparisons with Germany, Berlin? The glimpses of China at the beginning of the 21st century?

3. The musical score, atmosphere? The range of songs, Chinese, American? Classical music?

4. The title, the Summer Palace next to the university? A dream and utopian symbol?

5. The length of the film, like a compressed miniseries? Characters and developments omitted? Long inclusions and their relevance? Sufficient information about characters for their motivation and behaviour? Or not?

6. The structure of the film: the two halves, Tiananmen Square as the centre, the before with the anti-old and the change moving to the new world – but disrupted lives?

7. The prologue, the young girl, working for her father, the quotation from her diary about love, not being rational? The young man, delivering the letter? The bond between them? The long sexual encounter? The effect on her?

8. Her going to Beijing, the train, arrival, the world of Beijing in the late 80s after the provinces? Her room at the university, sharing, her bonds with the fellow students? The young woman who took her under her wing? Her boyfriend? Yong Hu and her seeing Wei, her diary entry, falling in love? His charm? The relationship? Her disappointment in finding him with the girl, having a meal? Implied relationship or not? Her taunt about having a relationship with the professor? Her inability to cope?

9. The collage of university life, the study, the lectures, the athletics? Songs, clubs? Dancing? A changing world?

10. The affair, the explicit sequences? The passion of the young man? His love for Yong Hu? Her love for him, yet her moods, ups and downs, the discussion about the break? Wei’s relationship with her girlfriend? Their discussions? Her talk about ideals? Utopian? Confusion?

11. Life on the campus, the students all going to Tiananmen Square, the demonstrations? The inserted footage from the newsreels of the time? Not mentioning the deaths?

12. The young man coming from the province, searching for her, rescuing her and taking her home?

13. The impact of the collage of events internationally at the end of the 80s, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of communism, the rise of Yeltsin? As this related to China and its changes?

14. Yong Hu, the passing of the 90s? 1997, the changes in Hong Kong? Her work, the affair with the married man, the affair with her fellow worker? Her memories of Wei? The issue of marrying? Being wilful, still being confused, her ideals?

15. The contrast with the group who went to Berlin? The visas, their life in Berlin, settling down? Study and work? Ti Li and her boyfriend? Their life together? The momentary affair with Wei? Their going up to the roof, her backing to the wall, throwing herself over? The effect on the two young men? On Wei, his feelings of guilt? The friendship of the other man, not accusing him, their discussion about her death, driving him to the airport? His disappearing from view?

16. Wei and his return to China, his work, girlfriend? Settling in the provincial city? Building a life? Meeting the student from university, the meal and sharing information? His asking about Yong Hu? Sending the email? The meeting at the service station, the impact of the meeting, his sending her to buy the beer – her coming back, his driving away and leaving her?

17. The final information about what happened to each of the main characters? Yong Hu and her continuing to drift? A puzzle to all her friends? People falling in love with her? Her uncertainties about herself, her life, relationships? The impact of the accident and the care by the young man? Her decision to marry? Yet her leaving him? Living at the service station – drifting?

18. A portrait of people, this group as being an image of China in these decades of transition and change? Did the film end with hope or not?