The “wall” in the film’s title is actually a bed sheet that Kam Fan, a school teacher, hangs in the middle of the room to partition the bedroom into halves and separate himself from Wong Ching-ping, his young wife, after a quarrel on how their monthly savings should be allocated. The film is in line with the uplifting mode of most of the productions by the Union Film, but is marked by its gentle humour and sensitive portrayal of a young couple’s marriage. Lee Ching, usually a rather stiff actor with a narrow range, here gives a fine performance as the grudging husband, while the charming Tsi Lo Lin is remarkable as the outspoken and uncompromising wife. Director Wong Hang started his career as a set designer and the film shows this, as both plot and characterization are underscored by the subtle design of the main set (by veteran Wan Man), an old flat with several rooms shared by a number of middle to lower class tenants.

*Post-screening talk with Jack Ng