Irony and Coincidence in Suzhou River - Essay Example

Will you Want me When you Won’t Wish? Suzhou River, a moody Shanghai style file, direct by Lou Ye, differs from the Western perception of Asian movies being a convergence of lush costumes, classically beautiful cinematography, feudal lords, whirling blades and other conventional trappings. Set on the banks of Suzhou, this movie shows us how the river, as a metaphor for urban excesses, is inextricably interwoven into the life and death of the major characters. The movie has been acclaimed as a stylistic tribute to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 masterpiece, Vertigo, and the film noir genre, with a new spin thrown into the treatment. Lou Ye departs drastically from other contemporaries of Beijing Film Academy, takes an abrupt swing from the downbeat realism that characterizes their works, and embarks on a mystical treatment of the theme. He employs irony and elements of coincidence in portraying the theme of love in a complex and obscure manner that makes the movie a mysterious enigma for the audience. The movie deals with the romance between Mardar and Moudan, as narrated by an unnamed videographer. Mardar, a motorcycle courier runs the errand of riding Moudan from her father’s residence to a relative’s place whenever the father wants to engage in his assignations. The girlish Moudan, young an adventurous, asks him to “drive like Schwarzenegger.” (Ye, Lou). The couple falls in love but tragedy strikes in their lives in the form of Mardar’s betrayal of her. Mardar is associated with the criminal underworld and is forced to kidnap Moudan on the instructions of the gang he belongs to, in order to extract money from her father. Moudan learns about Mardar’s deceit, and heartbroken, she jumps into Suzhou River and disappears. Mardar is arrested for complicity in the incident and sentenced to imprisonment. When he returns he meets Meimei, a look-alike of Moudan, who works as a night club performer, dressed up as a mermaid. Mardar believes she is Moudan, and wants to seduce her. The videographer who is obsessed with Moudan tries to drive Mardar out of town. Tragedy strikes again when the couple gets consumed the metaphorical river. The mystic play of love and obsession between Mardar and Moudan, and the videographer and Meimei, between Meimei and Mardar, further underline the complexity of love, makes it impossible for the viewer to exactly know whether Meimei is actually Moudan’s reincarnation or just Mardar’s illusion or whether Moudan’s story is real or just a fictitious one. Lou Ye uses irony to good effect in alluding to the complexity of love in the movie. Meimei falls into the spell of Mardar’s love story about Moudan, which attracts her to him initially, and she in turn falls in love with him. The irony becomes evident when, Meimei, at a later stage, ripped by the same story says to him, “I thought it was just a story.” (Ye, Lou). Meimei’s obsession is played out here quite well. Initially she develops an interest in Mardar on learning his story. At that time it only piques a sense of sympathy for Mardar, and also it acts only as a platform for her to perceive the romantic appeal in him. As her love evolves into a kind of fatal attraction; an obsession, she becomes intolerable and cannot accept the fact that Mardar at some stage has loved a girl. This unique character of love, when it turns into the kind of obsession she has for Mardar, makes her possessive of him and she is incapable of entertaining the idea that her lover at some stage has loved Moudan. Meimei seems to recognize the videographer’s love for her only after she realizes that Mardar is actually in love with Moudan and not her, because it is Moudan he sees in Meimei. Thus in this love affair, for Mardar, Meimei personifies not her individuality but Moudan’s. Then she tries to turn Mardar into the videographer as she realizes he is the one who loved her for what she actually is. The theme of love reflected through these characters seems to be that actually love is a concept like in the case of Mardar’s illusion. If his love for Moudan is true he would have looked for Moudan’s qualities or characteristic attributes in Meimei. Instead, he is more drawn to her because of her physical appearance which resembles Moudan’s. In terms of their intellectual or emotional qualities Moudan and Meimei differ a lot. While Moudan is carefree and girlish, Meimei is a bit hardened to the realities of life, and she performs in a nightclub for sustenance. Mardar seems to either disregard this fact or is not concerned about it and his love has nothing to do with this basic difference in characters but only with the physical appearance of both. Thus the irony of Mardar’s pursuit of the true love becomes evident by its lack of any divine purpose. Meimei says, “If you ever lost me: If I leave you someday, would you look for me, like Mardar looking for Moudan?" This is her own ironical perspective on Mardar, whose betrayal ends Moudan’s life. Mardar thinks that Moudan has come back from the dead in the form of Meimei. Again, this signifies the hollowness of Mardar’s pursuit. If he were actually looking for his true love, or if his love for Moudan is true as he purports, would he be content to cease the pursuit when he encounters a replica of his true love? In this process, Mardar is denying himself his true in barter for something that resembles her. This irony of the situation may have been lost on most of the audience, but if one takes time to look beneath the veneer of the visual treat the movie offers, and ponders on these elements it becomes too obvious. The river’s role itself in the movie is ironical in several contexts. It is Moudan’s exit away from her father’s sexual and alcoholic addiction and through Mardar she finds her escape to the outer world by passing through the river. The river is also a witness to the most happy moments that the couple shares. The river’s relevance to their life becomes so dominant that it the river that brings them peace, it is their escape and so the river becomes the destination where Moudan has to flee back once again, with Mardar. Touches of irony are tangible not only in the context of the main theme of love, but also in the minor details of the movie. The character of Mardar exemplifies two extremes; one is his drive for mobility when he is on duty. He enjoys the mobility riding offers him – his motorcycle is about movement and flux, the same as that of Suzhou River; both are non-repetitive. But at the same time, off duty, Mardar relegates himself to the sedentary role of a couch potato, watching videos. Similarly, Lou Ye also employs irony in his affecting the romance between Moudan and Mardar. Moudan’s father hires Mardar to take her to a relative’s place whenever he has an assignation. The father doesn’t want her to ‘know’ about escapades; but in the process he creates the opportunity for her to ‘experience’ the perils of forbidden love by her indulgence with Mardar. Hypocrisy is inherent in human nature right from the early stages of human evolution. A patriarchal father thanks he has every right to indulge in whatever he needs to satiate himself. On the other hand he wants the female members of his family not to know about it. Thus arises his need to send Moudan away to some other place so he can carry on with his indulgences in a free manner. He hires the young Mardar to escort his daughter to the relative’s house. The girlish Moudan falls into the charms of Mardar, without actually knowing his true self. Thus a father who wanted to hide his sins from a daughter pushes her into the pits of the very same sin. Similar irony is one key element that can be found throughout the movie. Another major element is coincidence which plays a prominent role in the lives of the four characters and determines their fates. The videographer first meets Meimei in the dressing room when he comes to shoot her Mermaid Promotional Ad at Happy Tavern. This gets his life, and thereby fate, entwined in the complex web of a love affair with her. Similarly, Mardar also meets Meimei in the dressing room of the Tavern to get entangled with her in an obsessive relationship, thinking that she is indeed Moudan. Coincidence is also witnessed in the tragic death of these characters. The river is the place where Moudan disappears, ending her first relation with Mardar. This is where the narrator, essentially drawn into a complex love affair with Meimei, realizes his own mortality. Several important cinematic influences have been attributed to Suzhou River. The most prominent among them are the film noir genre categorization and other stylish influences of Hitchcock movies. Critics have also linked it to handheld-camera style of Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express, especially because of its emphasis on the relativism of our lives and love. Another common feature is the use of an omniscient narrator to tell the story from within. Suzhou River, however, takes a leap farther by, “locking us into a single subjectivity and keeping us there.” But more than any influences or generic attribution, the film is most notable for its use of irony and coincidence in telling the story. Works Cited Ye, Lou, Dir. Suzhou River. Strand Releasing, 2000. Searls, Damion. Suzhou River: (Name of the journal, issue reference etc) OR Accessed on 8 December 2006. Read More