Hou Hsiao-hsien 10: Contexts: The Husband's Secret (Lin Tuan-qiu, Taiwan, 1960)

https://notesonfilm1.com/2021/06/04/the-husbands-secret-zhang-fu-de-mi-mi-lin-tuan-qiu-taiwan-1960/ A treat. Part of a new series of mid-century Taiwanese films made available in a wonderful restoration through the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute. We are discussing the film as a context for, as a way of better understanding the cinema of Hou Hsiao-hsien. But we can't help but discuss other elements that crop up: the career of Lin Tuan-qiu, the uses of melodrama, the extraordinary cinematography by Chen Cheng-fan and equally amazing lighting by Chen Tian-rong; we discuss how the film is a critique of patriarchy whilst also exploiting the visual aspects of women sinning; the films seems both visually sophisticated but also an example of what many will see as crude stereotypical melodrama, and fascinating for that. It's a plot-laden film, full of twists, and totally engrossing. We discuss the uses of flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks; the narrated elements by a narrator that seems omniscient and can't quite be placed; we critique the choppiness of the editing whilst praising some of the on-location shooting. We see clear roots in theatre and theatrical forms of acting. A weird and fascinating combination of cine-literate sophistication with a kind of crudity of acting and mode which we highly recommend not only to those interested in Taiwanese Cinema but also those interested in melodrama.