Tuya's Marriage (Tuyade Hunshi) is about a working mother who really has her hands full.
Tuya is a shepherdess living in a desolate part of Inner Mongolia, and in addition to her two children, she also has to care for her husband, Bater, who is disabled. Bater hurt himself trying to dig a well for the family, so Tuya (Yu Nan) handles his chores and her own, and she travels many miles daily just to get water for her family.
As the movie opens, Tuya is tending her flock when she comes upon an unconscious man in the fields. It's her neighbour Senge, drunk again as it happens, and she carries him home across the back of her camel. Senge drinks because his wife keeps running off with other men.
Tuya helps Senge recover, tells him to get a divorce and then passes out herself, from exhaustion, while eating dinner. Her own husband, Bater, tells her she needs a new man and offers to go and live with his sister, but Tuya won't hear of it. Only later, when she hurts her back, does she begin to consider finding a new husband. Thing is, he'll have to be someone willing to take care of Tuya, the children and Bater. Tuya isn't going to leave her husband in the hands of strangers.
Suitors come calling. Tuya's strength and beauty are well known in the region. There's Puribu, who already has three children, and Baolier, who is divorced and wealthy. Baolier is an old classmate of Tuya's and it seems he's carried a torch for her for many years. He's willing to pay to have Bater cared for at a local nursing home and find good schools for the children, so Tuya thinks a marriage to Baolier might make sense.
Always in the background, however, is Senge, and the sparks between him and Tuya make it obvious that the potential exists for something to develop. Bater's life at the nursing home is not what he wanted, and Senge is there when Bater's depression threatens to lead to tragedy. Senge is almost always there when it matters, so when he starts to dig a well for Tuya, the future looks hopeful. Too bad conflict never disappears forever.
Tuya's Marriage is a hugely entertaining movie -- surprisingly contemporary, always incisive and often very funny. And heartbreaking.
The film, which is in Mandarin with English subtitles, features award-winning actress Yu Nan as well as nonprofessionals Bater and Senge, both of whom are Mongolian herdsmen in real life. Tuya's Marriage manages to be both a sort of romantic comedy and a strong political commentary on social reality in China today. The film won the Golden Bear at the 2007 Berlin film festival and the Special Jury Prize at the '07 Chicago International film festival, where Yu Nan also won the Best Actress Award.
Tuya's Marriage is playing at the Cumberland Theatre.
(This film is rated G)
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