[Movie Invite]
When the name Fan Bing Bing pops up, the image of a Chinese supermodel strutting down the red carpets comes to mind. But in the movie “I am not Madame Bovary”, this beautiful award-winning actress takes on the role of an uneducated peasant Li Xuelian, seeking redress from various government officials for what she claimed as a sham divorce from her husband, Qin Yuhe. Indignant, she had wanted the courts to pronounce the divorce as void, so that she can get a real divorce with her ex-husband!
The movie was presented as a comedy in the trailers, and while it did draw lots of laughter throughout the show, I also felt sad and sympathized with the lead character who was being deceived by, ridiculed in public and likened to be promiscuous Madame Bovary by her husband. I think any lesser-willed lady may have sought relief in the form of suicide, given what she had to endure.
However, being the strong-willed and hard-headed lady she is, she was worse than any parasites, to any unfortunate official who had to deal with her. Although it was clearly a domestic affair that no official can resolve using laws, but the lady would not take no for an answer. Her chance, or rather, calculated encounter with a higher ranking official, cost many officials down the bureaucracy who had previously failed her, to lose their jobs. It was funny but it did made me relate to our own political situation, and how our MPs should be serving the constituents.
Li Xuelian is really the epitome for the saying “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, having spent a good decade of her life trying to take her husband to courts and suing anyone who comes in her way from seeking her “justice”. In the end, it did make me ponder if she was just simply being vindictive? My wife found it to be a little boring towards the end and felt that the jokes were already over used and she didn't really like the way the film was presented in a round frame (much like watching the scene through a telescope). I thought it was a terrible waste of screen area. I did enjoy it more than my missus and also felt it was decent enough to warrant a weekday ticket price.
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