Their Private Lives
Ko Ming Chung: Chow Yun-Fat
Chiang Ai Ling: Chen Hsi Lien
Liu Chiang Fen: Liao Yung Hsiang
director: Yeung Kuen
IMDb link: none at present
other links:movie poster image
Version reviewed: VHS
Ratings:
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VHS Audio: 4 of 10
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VHS Video: 2 of 10
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Subtitles: 5 of 10
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Story: 7 of 10
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Performances: 6 of 10
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CYF: 7 of 10
This is a surprisingly good movie. I say "surprisingly" because of
both the era and the somewhat sensational subject matter. Released
in January of 1978, this film predates the Hong Kong New Wave which
put new value on plot and characterization. Playing perhaps a bit like an
adult soap opera, that is easy to understand since this is a staple
soap opera subject. The fact that it supposedly recreates a
melodrama played out in real life doesn't change that; infidelity,
spiteful spouses and the gleeful cheer of the press at the
discovery of flaws in popular idols is not exactly new, but this
film actually goes beyond a simple retelling of the story and gives
the viewer a sense of how it must feel to be the different personalities
involved.
The plot centers around the romance of desperation between Chiang
Ai Ling and Ko Ming Chung. Popular television actors, they are
both beautiful people with somewhat ugly lives. Ai Ling teeters
between her desire to become a famous actress and her guilt over
neglecting her traditional duties as a wife; the scene in which
she kneels to slip on her husband's shoes while defending her career
against his vicious condescension sums up the tension of
her position.
Ming Chung is only a half-step above gigolo; he married Pei Ming
Chu for her money but gives her little in return. An uncontrollable
flirt and spendthrift, he blames his wife for his loss of self-worth.
When his infatuation with Ai Ling begins he visits a prostitute
and indulges himself with her, fantasizing about Ai Ling; later when
Ming Chu seeks his favors he rebuffs her with a roll of
his eyes and a snort of derision. Silently accepting his disinterest,
Ming Chu crawls back in her own bed, not daring to say a word. As Ming
Chung's romance with Ai Ling
grows hotter, his marriage grows correspondingly colder until even
the lovesick Ming Chu begins to see that her money can no longer
hold him.
Stealing furtive hours in tufted red-velvet love hotels or in
the seats of the car Ming Chung received as a gift from his wife,
Ai Ling seems to understand intuitively that Ming Chung
is not the romantic lover that the television audience, and he himself,
seems to believe, but she risks her marriage, her career and her
future to become his mistress.
After being photographed in a passionate kiss by two reporters from a
scandal sheet, life becomes difficult for the pair though they deny
they are involved; Ming Chung's wife hires a pair of detectives
to follow them, and they are inevitably discovered. The scenes of
the confrontation between Ming Chu, Ming Chung and Ai Ling - surrounded
by the flashing cameras of reporters and friends of the outraged
wife screeching to cut Ai Ling's hair as punishment - are realistic
in a nightmarish way. Ming Chung cowers in a corner, his arms thrown
up to shield his face, as Ming Chu glares coldly at Ai Ling kneeling
before her begging for mercy. A grotesque twist on earlier events
in which Ming Chu had begged Ai Ling to end her suspected affair with
Ming Chung, the hollow triumph of Ming Chu is sad and showcases
the tragedy of the entire sordid scene. The Chinese title of the film, "Love Desire Mad Tide", is much
more evocative than the English one and sums up the film rather well; whether the love
of Pe Ming Chu for her husband or the desire of Ko Ming Chung for his mistress, both are
'mad tides' which threaten to destroy all the participants.
Chow Yun-Fat's part in this film in intriguing. After seeing so
many of his roles in which he plays the wronged party, or at least
the heartbroken one, it's fascinating to see him play the part of
a selfish wanton. Unlike the thoughtless Kwong-Ping in The Last
Affair he would play years later, Chung Ming is a liar and a
manipulator of women. If this portrayal is indeed based on a
true story, that makes it all the more tragic.
The music score for the film is interesting; in the early stages
of the romance between Ming Chung and Ai Ling a very delicate
piano theme plays, rather wistfully. There is the usual dramatic
highlight crescendo for each of the dramatic scenes, but that's par
for the course in any film of the time, really.
I have no idea in what state this film was originally released; in
the copy I have, there are pornographic inserts edited into the
film where before it appears only suggestive shots were shown;
the participants in the pornographic scenes are not Chow Yun-Fat and
his co-star. Though the faces of the graphic scenes participants are never
shown, its rather easy to tell from other features that they are
two totally different people. The inserts at times to appear to have
been spliced in without any concern for continuity or believeability;
Ming Chung and Ai Ling might be about
to make love in a silent, darkened room one moment, and then
in a flash we're taken directly to close-ups of various body parts
in a well-lit room with the same monotonous pop music playing in a
loop. Unfortunately, they're not even good porn inserts,
but as monotonous and repetitive as the soundtrack for those
scenes. Oh well, that's what 'fast forward' is for.
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