During the 60s, and while still under martial law, Taiwan was caught in an identity crisis between Japan, China and the West, which was also mirrored at the cinema of the era. “The Husband’s Secrets” highlights the fact in the most eloquent way through a rather melodramatic story.
“The Husband’s Secrets” is screening at Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh
Siu-gi and his wife Tshiu-bi are a highly bourgeois couple married happily, with the only issue they seemingly face being the lack of children. Tshiu-bi has a friend, Le-hun who is as unlucky as possible, having to raise her son on her own, while living in a room of a family where the husband is a drunk. Tshiu-bi is touched by her friend’s problems and tries to help her any way she can, even taking her in her house, after the girl is kicked out from the place she lived, due to the aforementioned husband trying to have his way with her. However, it is soon revealed (just to the audience though) that Siu-gi and Le-hun used to be lovers, and actually, the latter has trouble forgetting his feelings and the tragedy that led to their separation. When the girl realizes the fact, she runs away from the house and gets a job in a nightclub. Fate however, brings Siu-gi in her path again, with the two eventually spending a night together, which leads to Le-hun getting pregnant. Eventually, their secret is revealed.
Subscribe to AMP newsletter by clicking on the image below
Lin Tuan-chiu directs a film that unfolds through a number of axes and time frames. Le-hun’s history is the main source of melodrama, since the woman does not seem to get a break in her life, always being exploited by men and scorned by society. The second aspect becomes particularly obvious in the sequence where she is searching for a job in the rain, shivering from the cold since she has pawned her coat to feed her son, only for the people in the shops she applies taking her for a junkie. Through her story however, another element of the narrative comes to the fore, that of feminism, since all the men in her life are presented as weak, cowardly and exploitative and the only help she ever finds comes from other women, who are portrayed as anything but. The fact that Le-hun remains virtuous through all her difficulties also moves in the same path.
The tragic love story between her and Siu-gi, which unfolds mostly through flashbacks, is the main source of romance, through a story that started as something very beautiful but deteriorated to something completely tragic. The erotic triangle that is shaped among the people involved combines both the romantic and the melodramatic elements, and is also the main source of hyperbole in the movie, particularly for the ignorance Tshiu-bi exhibits despite all the obvious evidence she is presented with. Probably the most interesting aspect of the story derives from her reaction from learning the secret, in a series of events that actually turn her into another tragic persona.
Through these stories, Lin also manages to make a number of sociopolitical comments regarding the then Taiwanese society, which was experiencing an economic boom but still had to face martial law and outside influences. The Japanese influence also derives from the fact that the script is based on a Japanese novel, while the Western influence is mirrored in a number of aspects of everyday life, particularly that of the rich, including the way they dressed, entertained, decorated their houses, and in general, conducted themselves. Lastly, the Chinese influence derives from the Confucian-didactic nature of the story.
Highlighting the excellent job done in the restoration of the movie, Chen Cheng-fang’s cinematography is one of the best assets of the production, with him portraying the many different settings, both of the poor and the rich, with equal realism and artistry. The editing is also quite good, as it induces the film with a very fitting, relatively fast pace, although the flashbacks can be a bit confusing in their placement occasionally.
The acting follows the theatricality that was so common during the era particularly in the melodramas. Apart from this however, Chang Mei-yao as Le-hun is quite convincing as the desperate, sad woman and as the happy, in-love one in the past axis. The same applies to Chang Pan-yang as Siu-gi, who also highlights his inner struggle for being with a woman he loves but still having feelings and regrets for Le-hun. Wu Li-fen as Tshiu-bi highlights her naivety quite eloquently, while her metastrophe during the finale of the movie is excellently portrayed.
Despite its intensely melodramatic nature, “The Husband’s Secret” entails many elements that deem it a rather interesting production, both as a story and as a social commentary, while the exceptional restoration makes it rather easy to the eyes, particularly for a film of 1960.
