Social
engineering invariably produces unintended consequences—often times resulting in
outcomes perversely opposite from what was hoped for. Nobody is better at
illustrating the follies of intrusive social tinkering than the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP). Due to the recently revised One Child (now Two Child)
mandate, marriage-age men vastly outnumber their female counterparts. To
minimize the imbalance, Chinese society (necessarily directed by the Party,
which strictly controls all media) pressures women to wed sooner rather than
later. As a result, unmarried women over 27 years of age face tremendous scorn
and criticism. Hilla Medalia & Shosh Shlam document challenges three such
women face as they try to live their lives in Leftover Women, which screens during the 2019 Philadelphia Film Festival.
Make
that two of them. Much to her surprise, 36-year-old film studies scholar Gai Qi
has recently married a much younger man and started a family. Xu Min (just
barely a “Leftover Woman” at twenty-eight, despite her protests to the
contrary) seems poised to join her when she meets a rather decent seeming chap at
one of the innumerable singles events staged in Beijing. Yet, strangely, she
scuttles the relationship before it even starts (for acutely human reasons that
will eventually become clear).
Far
more complicated—and ultimately much more compelling is the 34-year-old
attorney Qiu Hua-mei, who is truly conflicted by her desire for both
companionship and independence. She also feels filial guilt in spades, even
though her hard-working provincial father is a surprising fount of
understanding and compassion. Frankly, viewers will have a great deal of
sympathy for Xu Min and Qiu, but the latter is a much more magnetic and
thoughtfully mature screen presence. Ironically, Western men would probably
trip over themselves to ask out either—a likelihood perhaps not lost on one of
them.
