3.5/5 stars A Hong Kong couple fall gently out of love in My Prince Edward , the full-length feature directing debut of screenwriter Norris Wong Yee-lam . Set around Golden Plaza, a shopping centre for wedding supplies in the working-class neighbourhood of Prince Edward, the understated drama takes a delicate look at how a woman’s freedom might be stifled by a jaded relationship. Stephy Tang Lai-yan ( The Empty Hands ) cements her place as one of the leading Hong Kong actresses of her generation in the role of Cheung Lei-fong (or Fong), a clerk working at a bridal gown shop in Golden Plaza. Long estranged from her own parents, Fong is also becoming less certain about her love for Edward Yan (theatre star Chu Pak-hong, last seen on the big screen in Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight ), her boyfriend of seven years. Refreshingly, the character of Edward is not your typical Hong Kong romantic film lead. Chu – who was nominated for best actor at both Taipei’s Golden Horse Film Awards and the Hong Kong Film Awards – portrays him as a possessive, slightly obnoxious and almost pathetic man-child. He is oblivious to Fong’s concerns, and completely obedient to the demands of his controlling mother (Nina Paw Hee-ching). When Edward publicly proposes to Fong in the expectation that she’ll just say yes, and with his mother already planning to house the couple in a cramped apartment Fong doesn’t even like, the protagonist has to make up her mind quickly. The inconvenient truth that she is still legally married – Fong got herself into a sham marriage 10 years ago for the money to escape from her home – adds to her troubles. My Prince Edward starts out as a sensitive relationship drama, and finds its purpose in the second half when Fong is forced to reconsider notions of happiness and personal liberty. As her legal husband, Yang Shuwei (Jin Kaijie), a native of Fuzhou, in China’s Fujian province, shares his dream of travelling to the United States after securing a Hong Kong ID, Fong recognises the many options in life that she has shut herself out of. Not unlike Kearen Pang Sau-wai’s 2017 film 29+1 , Wong’s film provides a nuanced yet unsentimental account of the worries of a Hong Kong woman in her thirties who feels obliged by social custom to marry yet sees no reason to abandon the possibility of living her life to the fullest. That Wong and Tang are themselves in their thirties and unmarried adds to the film’s relevance. Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook