Farewell, My Love
Chin Chien, famous director of wenyi dramas (tearjerker films based on novels) committed suicide in late 1969. But, somehow, he released two movies in November of that year, and one more in early 1970.
How involved Chin was in the production of these films is a question I can’t answer. It’s possible that the films had been complete for months before his death and the studio was waiting for the right time to release them. Or it could be that the films were assembled and released to screens after Chin’s death.
As the first of these three films to hit theaters, Farewell, My Love is a surprisingly solid film, suggesting that it was completed by Chin before his death. It’s certainly a better film than his previous wenyi, Unfinished Melody, thanks to two strong acting jobs by Kwan Shan and Jenny Hu.
Ironically, these two performances overshadow the film’s purported star, Julie Yeh Feng, longtime star of wenyi weepies. Jenny Hu is only billed as a “guest star”, but I’d guess that she spends more time on screen then Yeh Feng. Yeh probably deserved a more glamorous exit from acting (this was her last film for Shaw Brothers, and her next to last film appearance) than being upstaged by a guest star.
When loving wife Jiang Han (Julie Yeh Feng) finds that she’s dying of cancer, she searches for a woman to take her place – someone to care for husband Liu Shimin’s (Kwan Shan) and daughter Ling Ling (Niu Niu). Once icy window Luo Chuchu (Jenny Hu) starts work at Liu’s company, the final piece of the tragic-yet-heartwarming love triangle is in place.
The film’s plot mirrors the reality of filmmaking in the late sixties and early seventies. Wenyi films were on the way out and its obvious that the studio didn’t give Farewell, My Love much support. The sets are chintzy and the whole affair has a strong odor of a threadbare budget. And, just as Jiang Han anoints Luo as her successor, Jenny Hu became one of Shaw’s preeminent actresses of the seventies – while both Yeh Feng and Kwan Shan left the studio.
Ian Whitney
Published: 2005-12-18