The indignity of being someone’s spouse while they are alive and merely a friend after their death is the theme of this extraordinarily moving Hong Kong drama.
The delicately crafted drama “All Shall Be Well” opens on the easy intimacy between life partners. Angie (Patra Au Ga Man) and Pat (Maggie Li Lin Lin) amble along a wooded path, their elbows softly bumping. Back in their apartment, Angie scoops tea leaves while Pat pours boiling water. Later, the pair sit before their vanity sharing daubs of moisturizer.
Set in Hong Kong, this graceful picture of love soon swivels to become one of loss when Pat dies unexpectedly. Nearly catatonic with grief, Angie finds comfort with in-laws, particularly Pat’s luckless brother, Shing (Tai Bo), and his superstitious wife, Mei (Hui So Ying). But the family closeness collapses once an attorney informs them that, without a will or marriage license from abroad, Pat’s estate — including the home the couple lived in for decades — will go to Pat’s next of kin, Shing.
The indignity of being someone’s spouse while they are alive and merely a friend after their death is the theme of this moving film, which brims with compassion and uses a silky light touch. The writer-director, Ray Yeung, prefers his camera static or, when observing Angie’s queer chosen family, dollying ever so slightly, as if to telegraph the buoyancy they bring.
But the film’s most extraordinary trick is how Pat’s presence hovers over the film. It is a feat of filmmaking and performance that a character only onscreen for a few scenes can feel truly missed by the audience. The home Pat and Angie built together aches with her absence, and so does the film.
All Shall Be Well
Not rated. In Cantonese, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
