Advertisement
Advertisement
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Sandra Ma (left) and Faye Yu in a still from Love After Love (category IIA; Mandarin), directed by Ann Hui. Eddie Peng co-stars.

Review | Love After Love movie review: Sandra Ma, Eddie Peng star in Ann Hui’s gorgeous period drama set in 1930s Hong Kong

  • Love After Love evokes decadent high-society life in pre-war Hong Kong as it chronicles the toxic relationship between a teenager and an immoral playboy
  • A line-up of legendary figures behind the scenes includes cinematographer Christopher Doyle, composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and costume designer Emi Wada

3/5 stars

The doomed romance between a hopelessly romantic schoolgirl and an absurdly heartless womaniser turns out as disastrously as expected in Love After Love, a languorous period drama from director Ann Hui On-wah.
An impeccably staged production that vividly evokes decadent high-society life in pre-war 1930s Hong Kong, the film boasts a line-up of legendary figures behind the scenes, from Christopher Doyle as cinematographer to Ryuichi Sakamoto as composer, and the recently deceased Emi Wada dazzling us with her mesmerising costume design for one last time.

Love After Love was scripted for the big screen by influential Chinese writer Wang Anyi from Eileen Chang’s 1943 novella Aloeswood Incense: The First Brazier. But despite being Hui’s third adaptation of Chang’s work – after Love in a Fallen City (1984) and Eighteen Springs (1997) – the film is arguably the least satisfying of the trio.

Sandra Ma Sichun plays Weilong, a Shanghainese teenager who moved to Hong Kong two years ago and now needs to find financial support to finish her secondary education. She seeks help from her aunt Madame Liang (Faye Yu Feihong), who has been estranged from Weilong’s father since she chose to become the mistress of a wealthy tycoon long ago.

The girl is aware of her aunt’s lurid habit of preying on the young men who come by her luxurious villa – and that includes the first boy (Yin Fang) the niece brings along. Anyhow, Weilong’s heart is enslaved by one of them: the mixed-blood playboy George (Eddie Peng Yu-yan), who is so proudly immoral even his father (Paul Chun Pui) and sister (Isabella Leong Lok-sze) warn her against seeing him.
(From left) Isabella Leong, Paul Chun and Faye Yu in a still from Love After Love.

A beautiful melodrama in which characters indulge in ugly impulses both sexual and material, Love After Love follows Weilong as she falls for the wrong man, and then doubles down and forces him into an unhappy marriage. An ordeal by default, Hui’s film does at least reward attentive audiences with some sharp writing in the early goings, as well as moments of dark humour peppered throughout.

The dashing Peng is a natural fit for George, a sex fiend who has no qualms about hopping from one bed to another on the same night. Ma, a divisive casting choice, easily embraces Weilong’s innocence at first, but the actress does appear to find it hard to convey her character’s conflicted emotions as the romance grows more twisted and the balance of power shifts in intricate ways.

While Hui completists may be satisfied by her typically assured direction, viewers looking for surprise plot turns, cathartic payoffs or even likeable characters in this 140-minute marathon of emotional violence should think again.

Eddie Peng in a still from Love After Love.
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook
Post