THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR (1993)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, psychological, sociological*

I've screened BRIDE and its sequel a few times before this, but this was the first time I saw the up-front romantic conflict as reflective of a deeper sociological quandary. And although BRIDE was adapted from a 1958 novel, its conflict reminded me of the clash between "order and chaos" as depicted by many cinematic versions of China's "White Snake" folktale, of which the best in my view is 2011's THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE.

Both in dubbed and subbed forms, I don't think the script-- co-written by director Ronny Yu-- explicitly maps out the nature of the differences between the two warring clans of BRIDE: the WuDang and the WuShuang. Midway through the film, a flashback establishes that the villains-- the conjoined twins "Male Ji" and "Female Ji" (Francis Ng, Elaine Liu) -- once belonged to WuDang. The twins committed some transgression against WuDang ethics, prompting some of the elders to call for their execution. One elder, Ziyang, pleads for mercy, so that the twins are simply exiled-- though the Jis end up forming their own antagonistic clan, the WuShuang, christened by the twins' surname. 

However, though I don't speak Chinese and don't know precisely what the performers are saying in the film, visually I think Yu *shows* us the aforementioned opposition. WuDang is a clan dedicated to strict orderliness, in which everyone wears dark, sober colors and talks about the necessity to expand their influence over the rival clans. The members of Clan WuShuang wear gaudy clothes and celebrate with wild dances, with at least one woman gamboling about in the nude-- hence, "chaos." Yu never explicitly asserts that the individual can suffer equally from "too much order" as from "too much chaos," but such is the fate of the tragic young lovers.  

The tragedy of the lovers is foreshadowed by a brief frame-story, which I'll address later. Presumably the source novel established the way the two protagonists were raised. Male lover Yihang (Leslie Cheung) is taught martial arts, presumably since his youngest years, by the WuDang Clan, with Ziyang functioning as Yihang's father-figure. Female lover Lien Nichang spent her earlier years as a "wolf girl," but the Ji Twins bring her into the WuShuang Clan. Implicitly the twins teach Lien both martial arts and some sort of magic, but initially their main intention is to use her as a tool in their war with WuDang.

But self-interest muddies the water on both sides. In WuShuang, Male Ji conceives a deep passion for Lien, even though his female half mocks him for thinking he can enjoy normal sexual relations. In WuDang, Yihang gets slightly less overt interference, but the spartan young woman Lu Hua (Kit Ying Lam) makes clear that she's warm for his form. However, Yihang experiences his first stirrings of romance when he meets Lien on the field of battle. Lien is awesome as she whips her way through multiple WuDang soldiers, but what most impresses Yihang is seeing her care for an infant birthed by a dying mother.

It doesn't take long for Yihang to worm his way into the affections of Lien, who hasn't exactly had a long list of boyfriends at this point. In no time, they've plighted their troth, and Lien asks Yihang to swear his love for her. So naturally, the competing factions work to pull them apart, and Lien, feeling betrayed, turns against all humanity, transformed (for reasons never made clear in any version I've watched) into an affect-less white-haired witch. Though the Ji Twins are destroyed by the forces they set in motion, and most of the WuDang is decimated, the lovers remain separated for the next ten years. This is the substance of the frame-story: that for ten years Yihang guards over a unique magical flower that he thinks may return Lien to human status-- and this plays into the narrative of the sequel, released in the same year, albeit with a new cast of support-characters for Cheung and Lin. More on that in a forthcoming review.