Jade Love (film)
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Jade Love, aka Madam Yu Ching (Chinese: 玉卿嫂), is a 1984 Taiwanese film directed by Chang Yi (Chinese: 張毅) and starring Yang Hui-Shan. It is an adaptation from a novella of the same title by Pai Hsien-Yung (Chinese: 白先勇), published in Modern Literature (Chinese: 現代文學) magazine in 1960. It is a tragic story set in Guilin, Province of Guangxi, in China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, about a young widow’s pursuit of her desire.
Plot
The film is set during the Second Sino-Japanese war. The entire story is told from the perspective of Rong ge (Chinese: 容哥), a ten-year-old boy of a wealthy family in Guilin, Province of Guangxi, in China. He meets his nanny Madam Yu Ching (Chinese: 玉卿嫂), who is a beautiful widow in her early thirties. Rong ge likes Madam Yu Ching and becomes dependent to her, who is tender and caring towards him. Madam Yu Ching disregards the attentions from men and the marriage proposal from the family where she works, leading to the rumors about her keeping a secret lover.
Curious, Rong ge follows Madam Yu Ching when she leaves Rong ge’s family house. He discovers that she keeps a young lover, Ching-Sheng (Chinese: 慶生), in a small hut outside the village. Madam Yu Ching tells Rong ge that Ching-Sheng, who is too fragile to work due to pulmonary disease, is her sworn brother. Rong ge befriends Ching-Shenge and takes him to see the traditional Chinese opera and hang out with the troupe, which enrages Madam Yu Ching.
Rong ge feels that Madam Yu Ching, who forbids Ching-Sheng from leaving the hut, has a strange obsession towards Ching-Sheng. Accidentally, he sees Madam Yu Ching having sex with Ching-Sheng and is shocked by the scene. One day, Rong ge finds Ching-Sheng having an affair with the leading actress in the troupe and tells Madam Yu Ching about it. Madam Yu Ching fights with Ching-Sheng, leading to him breaking up with her.
A few days later, Madam Yu Ching tells Rong ge that she has some business to take care of and leaves the family house. Early morning, Rong ge finds the Madam Yu Ching still has not come back, so he goes to the secret hut, only to see that Ching-Sheng lying in blood. Madam Yu Ching, who is next to Ching-Sheng, is holding a knife and stabs herself as she sees Rong ge. She falls onto Ching-Sheng’s body and holds him as she dies.
Cast
Yang Hui-Shan (Chinese: 楊惠姍) as Madam Yu Ching （Chinese: 玉卿嫂）
Lin Ding-Feng (Chinese: 林鼎峰)as Rong ge（Chinese: 容哥）
Ruan Sheng-Tian （Chinese:阮勝田） as Ching-Sheng (Chinese: 慶生)
Liu Yin-Shan（Chinese: 劉引商） as Pang daniang (Chinese: 胖大娘)
Fu Chuan (Chinese: 傅娟) as Jin Fei Yan(Chinese: 金飛燕)
Production
The adaptation of Pai Hsien-Yung’s novella, Jade Love, was a project of Li Hsing (Chinese: 李行), produced by his film company, Tian Xia Film Company (Chinese: 天下電影公司). It was originally set to be directed by Fred Tan (Chinese: 但漢章), but it did not go well. Eventually, producer Li Hsing invited Chang Yi, who was one of the Taiwan New Cinema directors, to direct the film.[1] Although the story of Madam Yu Ching was set in Guilin, China in the 1940s, the film was shot in Taiwan.
The lead actor, Yang Hui-Shan, was not Chang Yi’s first choice as Madam Yu Ching because Yang Hui-Shan was known for her sexualized image in many Taiwan exploitation films. Later, Yang Hui-Shan’s dedication to her role won her recognition.[2]
Reception and controversy
The sex scene in the film, which showed Madam Yu Ching raising her legs across Ching-Sheng’s shoulders, was deleted out by the censorship board of the Government Information Office.[3] The reason for the deletion was that the scene would “damage the good image of Chinese women (有礙中國婦女良好形象).”[4] According to Chang Yi, the deleted scene was almost six minutes in total.[4] Because of the controversial around the sex scene in the film, Jade Love failed to win any award at the Golden Horse Award.[4] Yang Hui-Shan did not receive the nomination of the Best Actress Award for her performance in Jade Love, but she was nominated and won the Best Actress Award for her role in Teenage Fugitive (1984).
According to film scholar Shen Shiao-Ying (Chinese: 沈曉茵), the reason why the film arouses controversies and fear in the government officials is that the character, Madam Yu Ching, is a woman who actively pursuits her desires and passion, rather than a sex object to be looked at.[5]
In 2012, the complete, un-edited version of Jade Love was screened at Taipei Film Festival for the first time in Taiwan.[6]
Awards
| Award | Category | Name | Result |
| 21st Golden Horse Award | Best Original Score | Chang Hung-yi (Chinese: 張弘毅) | Won |
| Best Child Star | Lin Ding-Feng | Won | |
| Best Sound Recording | Wang Rong-Fang 王榮芳 | Won | |
| Best Feature Film | nominated | ||
| Best Director | Chang Yi | nominated | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Chang Yi | nominated | |
| Best Art Direction | Wang Xia-Jun (Chinese: 王俠軍)
Zou Zhi-Liang (Chinese: 鄒志良) |
nominated | |
| 29th Asia-Pacific Film Festival | Best Music | Chang Hung-Yi | won |
| Best Actress | won |
References
- ↑ 張, 毅. "情慾戲因「有礙中國婦女良好形象」被刪光！張毅曝《玉卿嫂》拍攝內幕：第一次感覺對政治的絕望". 風傳媒. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
- ↑ 天下文化. "張毅楊惠姍分享電影合作淵源". Youtube. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
- ↑ 藍, 祖蔚. "電檢往事：剪刀的年代". Retrieved 2023-06-06.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 張, 毅. "情慾戲因「有礙中國婦女良好形象」被刪光！張毅曝《玉卿嫂》拍攝內幕：第一次感覺對政治的絕望". 風傳媒. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
- ↑ 沈, 曉茵 (July 1997). "胴體與鋼筆的爭戰──楊惠姍、張毅、蕭颯的文化現象". 中外文學. 26 (2): 101.
- ↑ 徐, 卉. "玉卿嫂完整版 電影節首映". 中央社. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
External links
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