The Fundy Film Society

Saving Face

Just when you think nothing new can be said on the subject of love, along comes first-time director Alice Wu with the charming romantic comedy Saving Face, which was presented at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival.

Wil (Michelle Krusiec), a successful New York City surgeon, does her best to remain dutiful to her forty-eight-year-old widowed mother (Joan Chen, The Last Emperor), who attends Chinese singles dances at a school gym in Flushing. In this world, where all the chatty, elderly matchmakers think she’s a great catch, Wil blithely deflects male attention in order to protect her very private preference for women. But Wil’s private world and family life collide when her mother shows up on her doorstep and announces she is pregnant.

Refusing to name the father and disgraced in the eyes of her traditional community, Ma moves in with her daughter. Wil can’t bring herself to tell Ma about her gorgeous girlfriend, a dancer named Vivian (Lynne Chen), nor does she want to tell Vivian that her pregnant, single, Mandarin-speaking mother is holed up in her apartment and eating non-stop. Nudged by Vivian and provoked by her mother, Wil realizes she must take this opportunity to disinherit her mother’s legacy of emotional disconnection.

The ever-luminous Joan Chen leads an engaging cast – who seamlessly shift between drama and comedy – in this delightful story of multi-generational relationships, contemporary and traditional Chinese cultures and one young woman’s journey toward living her life honestly.