Coming Home (2014)

Synopsis: During the final years of China’s cultural revolution, young Dan Dan (Zhang Huiwen) is an ambitious ballet dancer. But the authorities notify Dan Dan’s mother, Feng Wanyu (Gong Li), that her husband, Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming), has escaped the government re-education camp and that there will be no star role for her daughter. Nearly 20 years after his imprisonment Lu is released and returns home to find an estranged daughter, guilt-ridden by something she did to betray her father, and a wife who seems to have gone into an amnesiac state and refuses to recognise her own husband.

Zhang Yimou has had a wonderful cinematic career, whether with his muse and leading lady Gong Li in visually resplendent films such as Curse Of The Golden Flower or in masterful martial arts spectacles such as Hero. In his latest venture he takes on a more private story. Although the politics of the Maoist era are an important backdrop, he turns to the intimacy of family life and a love that seems to withstand even the most cruel rigours of time.

Zhang was born into the Cultural Revolution and he deftly captures the repression and fear of the era in the early segments of the film, as Party officials visit citizens’ homes and pry into every aspect of people’s lives. The style of ballet Dan Dan performs is propagandistic with delicate girls on toe-shoes brandishing guns and singing Communist Party songs. Then Zhang brings it down to the personal when Lu makes his short-lived escape and returns to his wife who is terrified of what could happen if they are caught. It is here that Dan Dan’s immaturity and fury at losing the lead role will colour what happens in the rest of their lives.

When we fast forward to Lu’s release we find Dan Dan estranged and living away from her mother and working in a factory we initially don’t realise the level to which Feng has lost her mental bearings as a result of Lu’s arrest. As Lu tries to ignite a spark of recognition in his beloved wife, the true depth of the film’s emotional heart sets in and with him we get our hopes up only to have them dashed.

One could accuse Zhang of straying into schmaltzy melodrama, especially in the film’s closing scene but this is small reservation as overall the piece works with simplicity and heart. More importantly the two lead actors hold us in their thrall, captivated by this enduring relationship and the unbreakable family bond. It’s  also truly special to see such an esteemed actress as Gong moving into a new phase in her career yet still hand in hand with her long-standing director.

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