Director: Shaohong Li.
AKA: Stolen Life.
Language: Mandarin.
Release Year: 2005.
Rating: * * *
“Stolen life” is a coming-of-age tale, told in a very uncompromising and unflinching fashion. The human fallibilities that lead to life-altering consequences are on display here, and it helps to have competent actors flesh out the script onto the screen.
Yan’ni (Zhou Xun) was abandoned by her real parents, and burdened on her aunt and granny for her upbringing. Obviously, she grows distant from her parents, and never makes any bones about it whenever she gets to see her mom; which is rarely. Unable to understand the reason behind her parents’ decision of forsaking her, she gives them the “could shoulder” when both her parents visit her for the very first time in her life. Seeing her dad for the very first time, she’s at loss of words, both out of shock and awe. Coming up with opposition from her guardians, on her decision to pursue higher education, she finds an ally and encouragement in her estranged father, who gives her the needed boost to follow her dreams. Soon, Yan’ni is accepted into a university, and her guardians are only happy to get rid of her.
On her very first day, she runs into Muyu, a 20-ish, charming fellow, working as a delivery boy at the university. Muyu is very forthcoming and doesn’t let any moment pass without helping the lonely and the lost soul that Yan’ni is. Yan’ni, too, doesn’t miss a beat in falling in love with this benevolent fellow, who always goes out of his way to help her with everything; from buying her knick-knacks to giving her the only friendly shoulder. After both of them realize the love they have for each other, Yan’ni’s life takes a drastic turn for worse. Her focus starts to shift towards spending time with Muyu, which also includes being intimate with him at such a nascent stage, both in age and life. Following in the footsteps of a typical teenager, she moves in with Muyu, into a dingy, underground bunker of sorts. Just like your run-of-the-mill teenage complications that arise, by getting into a “relationship” at such a tender age, here, too, Yan’ni meets reality in its bareness: She becomes pregnant with Muyu’s child. After perusing all the available options, and weighing it against her own prospects of getting educated, Yan’ni decides to quit everything, and live at Muyu’s mercy in bringing the child into this world. Muyu doesn’t hold back anything, and helps her and loves her with all his might, while Yan’ni becomes a shut-in, festering in that shack, surviving off meager necessities, loneliness and dreariness, all the while, stagnating.
A setback makes both these characters sit up and smell the coffee. Struggling for even a proper two meals per day, both of them scamper around for monetary reprieve. Managing to come up with some means to survive for a while, with Muyu helping on all terms, Yan’ni’s met with another predicament when one of her guardian discovers her miserable self, and the deplorable state she’s dug herself in. Soon, Yan’ni’s mother comes knocking on her door, and lets her daughter in on the reason she’s neglected her all these years. She tells Yan’ni that, just like her, even her daughter’s fallen in the same rut that her mother once had. Her mother proposes a way out, but Yan’ni isn’t too keen on taking that piteous helping hand, but that doesn’t stop the mother from making a deal with Muyu. The deal is to put the child up for adoption once it’s born, and in return, her mother will bear all the related expenses up till that point.
Losing her child to a stranger in adoption, Yan’ni is nothing but devastated. Thereafter, life is not the same for both Yan’ni and Muyu. They are well off, but the spark they once had has started to die out, or perhaps, even dead. One day, to Yan’ni’s disbelief, the news about Muyu’s affair is revealed by Muyu’s current girlfriend. Rejecting the claim, but still needing to put her curiosity to rest, Yan’ni ransacks her place, only to find something that comes as a blow to her guts, and rips her heart into shreds. Muyu’s skeletons come tumbling out of the closet, and Yan’ni is appalled at the man’s heinousness and her own stupidity, for having trusted her life in the hands of such an abhorrent creature. The climax is where Yan’ni finally takes charge of the situation and her life, avenging the unspeakable things done to her, in her own poetic way.
The movie is shot with minimal fuss, employing no unnecessary fancy cuts, or intellectual angles, or going ballistic with the score. The treatment is grounded in reality, with its blandness evident in every scene, and an almost absence of music. It’s more like documentary, but only more fictional yet, relevant. With only a handful of actors to deal with, the director doesn’t mess up with the combinations, and is successful in bringing out the authenticity in the situations and characters onscreen.
Jun Wu as the masquerading philanderer and lover Muyu, was a presence to be reckoned with. Playing it below the radar in most of the scenes, he delivered handsomely on all counts. One scene in particular, where his performance was truly outstanding, was couple of minutes before the end. After being exposed, Yan’ni tries to hurt Muyu, but a medical condition makes it very hard for her to do so. There, Muyu just sits on the couch, smoking and blowing smoke nonchalantly, being absolutely indifferent toward Yan’ni’s plight and pain. How, after each and every sentence, Muyu was able to peel off the hidden layers of his personality, is truly commendable. Another scene is right at the end when, in his own twisted fashion, Muyu gives Yan’ni, probably the best advice she ever got. The apathy and the lurking selflessness that Muyu impregnated that particular scene with, was a treat to watch.
Yet again, it was Zhou Xun’s performance as the ingenuous yet, strong-willed Yan’ni, that was the heart and soul of this movie. She’s a thespian with an uncanny knack of putting a cathartic spin on the parts she plays. With her trademark subtlety and elegance, Zhou evoked every emotion there was to be evoked for her character. Unparalleled in her charm and all those tender expressions she infuses her scenes with, one can’t help but fall in love with her acting and her. It was a yet another tour de force of a performance, which made an almost average movie into a worthy affair. If it weren't for her, the movie just wouldn’t be as good as it was, and it wouldn’t get the rating it did. Yes, I’m that besotted by her
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