Based on the popular classic, Six Chapters of a Floating Life , written by Shen Fu (1763-1825) in the Qing Dynasty, Cheng Kang’s script also made a number of references to the stage adaptation by Fei Mu, famed director of Confucius (1940) and Spring in a Small Town (1948). The story concerns Shum Sam-pak (Cheung Wood-yau), a young scholar who earns his living as a civil servant and an art dealer, and the domestic and romantic joys of his marriage to the beautiful and artistic Wan (Pak Yin). Tragedy occurs when Shum’s step-mother and half brother conspire to seize his share of the family’s property and expel the couple from the estate. Wan suffers from poverty and sickness and dies subsequently. Cheng retains the many layers of the novel by probing into topics as diverse as gardening, finance, social roles of women, tourism, literary criticism, prostitution, class relations, and family dynamic, while Ng Wui’s exquisite direction matches the poetic lyrical mode of the writing.

7/6*

(Sat)

3:15pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

28/6

(Sat)

4:00pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

*Post-screening talk with Jack Ng and Loong Man-hong