Adapted from Lu Zhaohuan's novel of the same name, "Double Bracelet" tells the absurd and conservative social customs of the coastal areas of Fujian on the eve of reform and opening up through the friendship and life trajectory between the two women.
Filmed in 1989 and released in 1991, the film is mainly set in a village in Hui'an County, Fujian Province. In the context of a specific era, the unethical vices of local women such as early marriage, sisterly couples, and only three times a year after new marriage are interpreted and analyzed.
Shu Ting once had a poem "Hui'an Woman", which described that Hui'an women have been silently enduring the bitterness of life, known for their diligence, filial piety and gentleness, and conforming to the expectations of traditional culture. But it is really just a song of compassion sung to the women of Hui'an.
Some people say that this is a film with the same-sex label, but in fact, this movie uses the pure dependence between the same sex to contrast the inhumanity of arranged marriages between men and women.
And the heroine Huihua's mother's sentence: "Men are dragons, women are mud, how do you compare with your brother?" It can also be called the "finishing touch" of the whole film, and it is also the root of the tragic life of women.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > "unseemly" couple meeting, ending with the husband holding up his belt</h1>
The Pearl River Delta has a special marriage custom, which refers to a woman of marriageable age who braids her hair into a bun, indicating that she will not marry for life. It is more common in Shunde, Nanhai, Panyu and other places, and is known as "self-combing woman".
In the Huidong Peninsula of Hui'an, Fujian, there is also a special ethnic group: Hui'an women.
The local custom is: on the first night of the new marriage, the bride cannot go to bed, but must stand by the bedside for the night; after marriage, there is no heir, no residence in the in-laws' house, and only three times a year with the husband; after pregnancy, long-term residence in the husband's house can be allowed.
The neighbor's sister-in-law Meizhen and her husband miss each other and want to get pregnant as soon as possible, so they secretly meet privately.
However, this private meeting was caught by the villagers. The villagers angrily rebuked Meizhen for being "improper", and Meizhen also retorted with righteous words: she was not wrong, what was wrong was this rule.
Under the pressure of everyone, Mei Zhen's husband untied his belt and prepared to beat his wife with the belt. Looking at the belt held high in her husband's hand, Mei zhen's heart was completely cold, she did not understand what the meaning of her life was, she struggled to push away the crowd, and crashed her body straight into the sharp wooden stake.
The dark night and the bright red blood accused that this bad habit made normal couples unable to see each other. If stealing will be discovered, it is the woman in the marriage who bears all this.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > wife "bones are not cold", and the husband is in a hurry to organize the next wedding</h1>
According to local customs, women should cover their faces and cry at weddings, and brides are not allowed to worship their ancestors during worship. And the bride cannot go out of the marriage room for three days, is not allowed to eat or drink, and is not allowed to go to the toilet.
After marriage, men make a living by going out to sea to fish, but they are more idle at home because of the weather. And women need to take on all the housework, including ploughing the land, weaving nets, towing scooters, building houses, moving stone slabs, helping at the beach, all the time.
Huihua's sister-in-law, because of her cough, sprinkled fish on her soft feet when unloading the goods, and she also fell down. But in full view of everyone, what attracted was the husband's punches and kicks, and the habitual gaze of others.
Hui Hua pulled her sister-in-law to the movies and wanted her to take a break. The sister-in-law was reprimanded by her mother, saying that she was already a married woman. Her husband, on the other hand, can mix cards at the table every day and lose and make a fool of himself.
Under the double torture of body and mind, Huihua's sister-in-law finally could not bear it, vomited blood under her husband's slap, and died with hatred.
Huihua's mother and eldest brother did not care at all about the death or death of their sister-in-law, so they were busy taking the dowry from "selling" Huihua and giving her brother Zhang Luo a marriage.
In the heart of the mother of the "old Hui'an girl", many things are natural and deep-rooted. It doesn't matter if there is no woman, the most important thing is to find the next woman to serve her son. Maybe she forgot that she had been young herself.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the dictionary of "Hoi An Woman", the word divorce is not allowed</h1>
Huihua and her "sister husband and wife" Xiugu agreed not to marry and not to let men get close. But in the end, Xiugu was lucky to meet a rare good man.
Xiugu and Huihua said, there are many things you don't understand now, and when you get married, you will understand. This also led to Huihua obeying her mother's arrangement and accepting the marriage. Unfortunately, Hui hua met a "normal" Hui An man.
Huihua's husband believes that women are fertility machines, and only by having more sons can they have face. Men with such thoughts are doomed not to treat women as human beings.
Hui hua returned to her mother's house, and the only person who could understand her was her sister-in-law. After the brother heard what happened to his sister, instead of administering justice for her, he made a big fight and asked her to go back quickly.
The mother even reprimanded Huihua: "Men are dragons, women are mud, and women are born to serve their husbands." ”
"A man is a dragon," everyone in this place firmly obeyed this rule. A woman must not divorce or divorce her husband. Therefore, the Hui'an woman wanted to leave, and there was only one way to "die".
Unwilling, but also the last way out. Huihua painted a delicate makeup, changed into pre-wedding clothes, and looked at the beautiful face in the mirror herself.
Unwilling to accept the fate's arrangement, Huihua came to the sea alone and walked towards the depths of the sea, making a weak struggle in this way, escaping the spell of "Hui'an Girl".
In history, Fujian Hui'an is a closed, poor and feudal place of "ten years and nine droughts, ten rains and nine floods".
It is precisely because of poverty that many hardships have been brought to the women of Hui'an, who have married early, lived in their mother's homes, had low status, and committed suicide en masse, leaving shocking records in history.
However, in the eyes of outsiders, The Hui'an woman wrapped her head in a square scarf, wore a bucket hat, wore a short coat, and a silver belt, which was a beautiful, mysterious and ancient costume.
However, when people appreciate them as "landscapes", they ignore the independent personality and inferior living environment of women.
These old customs have pulled the status of women to the bottom. The beauty of the sea and the sky can not awaken their scarred, closed hearts.
The theme song of "Double Bracelet" is "It seems that the old man has come", which is composed by Luo Dayou, lyrics by Lin Xi, and sung by Mei Yanfang. The sadness of that word by word interprets the helplessness of Hui'an women in dealing with the unfairness of fate, and there is no end to it.
-END-
The world is so big, thank you, you can see me!
【Wen | Wei Wei'an: The pen has temperature, speaks for emotion, an atypical writer who loves words, invites you to perceive life together]