A down-to-earth and poignant drama about a female student who has a crush on her married male teacher facing a midlife crisis, featuring indelible performances from Jacky Cheung, Anita Mui, and a breakout role by Karena Lam.
Review #2,686
Dir. Ann Hui
2002 | Hong Kong | Drama | 103 min | 1.85:1 | Cantonese
PG (passed clean)
Cast: Jacky Cheung, Anita Mui, Karena Lam
Plot: Lam Yiu Kwok, a Hong Kong secondary school teacher is facing a mid-life crisis. Choy Lam, a precocious student, has a crush on him and the ‘forbidden fruit’ looks more and more tempting in the light of his wife’s ‘infidelity’.
Awards: Won 3 Golden Horses – Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best New Performer; Nom. for 4 Golden Horses – Best Feature Film, Best Leading Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design & Makeup
Distributor: Filmko Films Distribution
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Midlife Crisis; Marriage; Teacher-Student Relationship
Narrative Style: Straightfoward
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: Slightly Mainstream
Viewed: Screener (as part of Hong Kong Film Gala Presentation)
Spoilers: No
The final acting credit of Anita Mui, who passed on a year later in 2003 due to cancer, July Rhapsody is a showcase of her restrained performance, as she plays a wife, Man-Ching, who finds herself tending to a terminally ill man, a teacher whom she used to romantically long for when she was much younger.
Her husband, Yiu-Kwok (Jacky Cheung), who was her classmate then, and now a teacher himself, faces a midlife crisis as such. At the same time, one of her husband’s rebellious students, Choy-Lam, (a breakout role by Karena Lam) is infatuated with him.
It does seem complex, with its narrative ‘circularities’ and ‘mirror imagings’, but director Ann Hui treats her work with nary a hint of over-complication.
“You have to get used to not seeing me in class.”
Without relying too much on flashbacks, and always locating the story in the present, July Rhapsody feels down-to-earth and slice-of-life. The performances are of the right tone, never showy and quietly affecting.
Choy-Lam’s seduction tactics towards Yiu-Kwok are some of the film’s most memorable scenes, partly due to the ‘taboo’ nature of prospective teacher-student relationships, though July Rhapsody isn’t about that.
Instead, the film is about the need for anchors in life, be it a concerned teacher looking after a student who has lost her moral compass, or family members who need emotional support.
Hui dives into the poignancy of life’s mini-crises, which may come at us unpredictably, but sometimes allow us to reset and recalibrate our purpose to live, and to reaffirm our domestic and professional roles.
Grade: B+
Trailer:
Music:
Eternality Tan 