The Love of Mr An

New Zealand Premiere

Mr An lives in Beijing. He is in his nineties and quite the flirtatious fellow. He has a relationship with Xiao Wei, his dance partner who also takes care of him sometimes. Xiao is married, but her husband does not seem to care what is going on. And Mr An’s wife? Well, she is so ashamed she never leaves the house anymore and that makes her more than a little grumpy.

The Love of Mr An starts out as a rather amusing look at odd relationships in modern China. There is the uncomfortable lingering and never truly resolved issue of the amount of money that passes from Mr An to Xiao Wei, but the caring and light-hearted exchanges between the two are genuine and endearing. But when Lao An falls ill and is hospitalised halfway through the film, the documentary takes a dramatic narrative turn.

The film shows the awkwardness of society about romance between elderly. His family and acquaintances do not appear to take Mr. An’s feelings very seriously. However, director Lina Yang, manages to capture a measure of heartfelt emotion from the old Mr An that a fictitious film could only hope to convey.