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REEL TO REAL
by Chuc LaVenture
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

Chinese Box

Chinese Box is the story of John (Jeremy Irons) and Vivian (Gong Li). John is a British journalist who has been living in Hong Kong for many years. He is passionately in love with Vivian who is the girlfriend of Chang (Michael Hui), a Chinese businessman. When John is diagnosed with leukemia he quits his job and begins roaming around Hong Kong with a video camera. In his traveling he meets Jean (Maggie Cheung). Jean has a hideous burn scar on the left side of her face and is hustling tourists when John sees her.

I really see this movie as a metaphor for the handover of Hong Kong to China. John, of course British, is dying of leukemia as England loses her control of the Asian gem. He is perversely not overly interested in his own disease. He plods unswervingly forward in his pursuit of Jean and Vivian, Jean because of her unique history and Vivian because he loves her. He is focusing all of his attention away from the inevitable and putting his attention into pursuits that interest him more. I very much see him as a metaphorical Britain.

Vivian is North Chinese living in Hong Kong. She is not respected by the Hong Kong businessmen who come to her karaoke bar, because of her background as bar hostess and her status as a Mainlander. She knows of John's love for her but her future lies with Chang. Vivian appears hard and unfeeling, but she has worked hard to develop a sleek, alluring image. I think the most telling indication of metaphor here is a scene in which John, after Vivian and John have consummated their affection for one another, asks her to be with him. She of course returns to Chang.

Jean is Hong Kong, a middle-class girl educated in international schools, she fell in love with an English boy. The parents of both children put a stop to the relationship, of course. Jean, heartbroken, attempted suicide by swallowing acid, leaving a rather large scar on the left side of her face. She rebels and leaves home to run in the underbelly of Hong Kong, hustling tourists, in pursuit of the almighty dollar. Jean ends the movie scarred on the inside as well when John brings her to her English schoolboy. She discovers that he not only doesn't remember her, but he is marrying one of her old Chinese schoolmates.

The intimate, intricate, emotional plot lines alone make this a movie worth seeing. I enjoyed the political metaphor immensely and have to say that I've never seen such a meaningful juxtaposition of metaphor and reality on film. There are throughout the movie documentary scenes of the proceedings of the handover that make the interactions between our three characters even more meaningful. This is a film to see.

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