TIFF Report: Everlasting Regret Review
Watching the life and struggles of Qiyao [Sammi Cheng] unfold over 34 years in Stanley Kwan's Everlasting Regret was kind of like watching paint dry. It is long and boring and by the time it dries you don't like the color.
Qiyao is a simple student in 1947 when she is discovered by a local photographer who enters her in the Miss Shanghai pagent. She catches the eye of Official Li who showers her with wealth, substance and high social standing. All the time she is oblivious that the world around her is changing dramatically as China prepares for the Cultural Revolution and The Great Leap Forward and the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China. What we witness is a series of tumultuous events and relationships that bring pain and sorrow to everyone involved.
Stanley Kwan shoots beautifully. The film looks good. Sammi Cheng is almost luminous at the beginning of the film and you still see her beauty throughout the rest of film no matter her circumstances. That may be one of the problems here. There are so many characters and plot twists that simply flitter in and out of the story and yet have such an impact on Qiyao's life and circumstance you cannot keep track. You also have a sense that something is happening to Shanghai, that the revolution is happening, though you never really get a clear notion of what is happening unless you know something about these events prior to your viewing.
In the end, you really don't care what happend anymore to Qiyao. It has taken so long to get to that point that you just want the film to be over. You know what a clear indication of how the audience felt about the film. No one clapped. Keep in mind that this is an international festival and we're polite Canadians and there is almost a sense of obligation to applaud any movie in the end. There was nothing. A couple souls tried to start something but just couldn't get us going. I probably wasn't the only one nodding off by the end. There were a couple missed lines of dialogue. You want to know what Everlasting Regret really is? Knowing that I could have traded this ticket in and seen something more interesting. That's gonna haunt me until next year.
The only thing that I am curious about though is what Kwan had to edit out of this film to make it acceptable for the festival circuit. You'll recall that we reported that Kwan was asked to edit out some of the Cultural Revolution references in the film for whatever reason before it went to Venice. I doubt it would have made the film more watchable but one has to think it might have been an improvement.
