Chow Yun-Fat
O nuu
O woman
Miss O
movie poster image
principal cast:
nbsp;nbsp;Chow Yun-Fat
nbsp;nbsp;Sarina Sai Zhu Juan
Cheung Sum had his moments as a director. Unfortunately few of them
were sequential, but he did have his high points. Most of these were
the erotic sequences featuring his handsome stars (Alan Tang and Chow Yun-Fat
being two notable ones) and his various leading ladies. There are some
genuine moments of interest in these films, even if they are essentially
exploitation films, and Miss O is no exception. Think of these as
date movies for the heavy-petting crowd.
Miss O concerns the tragedy which befalls Kuan Yen-Ping (Chow Yun-Fat)
and his bride Ching-Yeh (Sarina Sai). Ching-Yeh is prone to a strange sort of
narcolepsy which seems to afflict her during moments of emotional stress. In the
opening of the film we see the first meeting of Yen-Ping and Ching-Yeh, as Ching-Yeh
admires a particularly splended pendant in a streetside jeweler's display. Yen-Ping, walking by,
stops to admire Ching-Yeh. Ching-Yeh is obviously drawn to the handsome Yen-Ping but,
doing her duty as a nice girl, walks away from his pick-up lines with a little snort.
Yen-Ping happens across Ching-Yeh a little while later, slumped against a wall on the
sidewalk, deep in one of her narcoleptic episodes. After he manages to awaken her,
Ching-Yeh is grateful for his kindness to her, and they at first meet casually, then
date, then he comes home to meet Ching-Yeh's auntie with whom she lives. After only
a short parting when Yen-Ping goes on a trip for a few days, he is stricken
with love and eventually their originally chance encounter leads to marriage.
After the wedding ceremony, Ching-Yeh goes upstairs to change from her gown to her travelling
suit. After a while Yen-Ping excuses himself from the wedding reception to hurry her along,
but instead he finds her lying motionless on the floor of the hallway. Again, Ching-Yeh
has fallen victim to her mysterious illness.
After a doctor finds her illness beyond diagnosis, Yen-Ping is further devastated to learn that in some instances in the
past Ching-Yeh has awakened only to find that she suffers from a kind of temporary amnesia, not recognizing
her loved ones or even knowing her own name without strenuous prompting from Auntie. Worried for both his new bride's health as well
as fearful that she will not know her husband when she awakes, Yen-Ping keeps a vigil by her side all
through their honeymoon but to no avail.
When there is still no change, Yen-Ping brings in another physician who recommends hospitilization
but at that moment Ching-Yeh appears on the stairs, awake and a bit pale but fully recovered. Joyfully
the doctor leaves and Auntie feels free to go home and leave her niece to enjoy wedded bliss.
Unfortunately not long after illness strikes Auntie; after a phone call informing her of the news, Ching-Yeh hastily scribbles a note
relating her whereabouts and sets off to see her aunt in the hospital. Her emotions running
high, she is struck down by her strange sleeping sickness, this time in the back of a taxi. At first
simply stealing her valuables, the cabbie then schemes to sell the hapless girl to the madam of a house of
ill-repute. Without anyone she recognizes and in an unfamiliar place when she awakes, Ching-Yeh suffers
total amnesia when she revives, and is kept hostage without food until she finally succumbs to
hunger and allows herself to be pressed into prostitution.
Yen-Ping is frantic over the disappearance of his wife; after a stray breeze blows her hasty
note to him away, she has effectively vanished. Only after a chance phone call from his wife's cousin
does he suspect she might be with her aunt. He
searches for her from each hospital and morgue down to the lowest bars and alleyways, all to no avail.
Meanwhile, 'O', as Ching-Yeh is called during her amnesia, works as a hooker in the streets of Hong Kong.
After showing kindness to one of her hopelessly drunken clients, she enters into a relationship with
him which is at first cruel and tragic, but after her relentlessly sweet nature overwhelms the
drawbacks, they are married. At this point is when, of course, Yen-Ping finally finds his wife and
begins his campaign to win her back both from her illness and her bigamous husband.
Though the plot might be a touch on the trite side, it is still intriguing at times. The entire film
of course relies on the sexual appeal of the two stars; Sarina Sai was undoubtedly quite attractive by
the standards of that time and place though her penciled-in eyebrows and bee-stung lips detract from
her beauty by current standards. Chow Yun-Fat shows his later potential for tightly-reigned sensuality;
he and Sarina Sai are mismatched from a talent standpoint but she manages to hold her own, especially in her
portrayal of 'O' working as a prostitute but managing to still remain a lady.
The scenes of Ching-Yeh and Yen-Ping's wedding night are done rather well; even if the symbolism is
a bit obvious at times (burning tapers and such) the whole effect is one of overall eroticism and
relatively understated. The passing of a cocktail cherry from mouth to mouth during a kiss is reminiscent
of the later Japanese film Tampopo, probably the ultimate in food eroticism.
This was never meant to be "art" and it isn't. It is an interesting look at the commercial softcore of the
period, and as a look at one of CYF's earliest films. Made in 1977, he was only 22 years old at the time
and still heavily involved in various TVB productions as well as trying to break into films. Though he was cast
primarily for his sexual appeal, he still manages to show that he is a man with an innate talent for character
portrayal. As long as you don't expect the artistry of his later work, you won't be disappointed in his
sketch of Yen-Ping.
Filmed in Mandarin, CYF does his own voice dubbing. Released on April 28, 1978 (on your humble
page maintainer's birthday, incidentally) this is the eighth and last of the films CYF made for Goldig.
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