"Sauce Garden Lane", director Chen Kexin's painstaking work, became the focus when it appeared at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It's not just a movie, it's a reinterpretation of a dusty piece of history.
The film takes us back to the stormy 1940s, Shanghai during the Japanese occupation, a woman named Zhan Zhou, her fate is like duckweed wrapped in the torrent of the times. Lonely and helpless since she was a child, at the mercy of fate, her life is full of helplessness and struggle. The story of Zhan Zhoushi (played by Zhang Ziyi) is a story about courage, about survival, and about the awakening of women's self-consciousness.
Zhan Dahu, played by Wang Chuanjun, is another shackle in Zhan Zhou's life. His depravity and sinking made Zhan Zhou's life even worse. However, Zhan Zhou did not choose to give in, she struggled in the face of adversity and fought for survival. Her tenacity and courage are moving.
In addition to Zhan Zhou's story, the movie also cleverly integrates the story line of the characters played by actors such as Lei Jiayin, Zhao Liying, Yi Yang Qianxi, and Yang Mi. These characters are intertwined with the fate of Zhan Zhou, and together they build a world full of human brilliance and darkness.
It is worth mentioning that the English title of the film is "She is nameless", which profoundly reveals the fate of Zhan Zhou and countless women of that era - they have no name, only identity, and are defined by family and society. However, "Sauce Garden Lane" allows us to see the light in their hearts, and their struggles and struggles in the face of adversity give us a deeper knowledge and understanding of the women of that era.
"Sauce Garden Lane" is not only a movie, but also an in-depth discussion about history, about human nature, and about women's self-consciousness. It allows us to see what that era really looked like, and it also makes us think more about the status of women today.