A Master's Farewell to His Father

Award-winning Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige gets intimate and musical with Together

At the age of 51, Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige is a living master. Even before winning awards worldwide for his 1993 masterpiece Farewell, My Concubine, he was credited for changing the face of Chinese cinema with features Yellow Earth and Life on a String. With his latest film, Together, the director has foregone the sweeping period drama in favour of an intimate modern-day tale about father-son relationships.
Together tells the story of a violin prodigy named Xiaochun (Tang Yun) and his untutored, devoted father, Liu Cheng (Liu Peiqi). Together they move from a remote Chinese village to the busy modern commercial city of Beijing. There Xiaochun works with two teachers - the first an endearing, otherworldly artist, Professor Jiang (Wang Zhiwen), the second, Professor Yu, a practical man of the world (played by Chen himself) who owns many modern electrical appliances, understands the way the music business works, and knows how to create a star. Behind all of this lies an allegory about the old and the new China; the father and Jiang, represent the old ways; Professor Yu, the new. Xiaochun is caught between the two and must resolve his conflicted feelings about his father, his teachers, and music itself.
Tandem talked to Chen Kaige when he was in Toronto recently.

A beautiful film, very small in comparison to your latest movies. Did you feel the need to make something this intimate?
"I think so, maybe because I became a father and a husband and have a very happy family. That turned me into a different person and I realized the importance of intimate things. I think I've changed a lot."

When you were a child you had problems with your father. You actually had to denounce him to the Cultural Revolution authorities. Is this film a way, perhaps, of redeeming that relationship?
"There is no comparison between my father and myself, and the relationship in the film. But yes, I think there is a sort of connection particularly when I look back and think about what I said to the actor who plays my father. There's a big similarity in terms of what happened in the movie and what happened in my life. My father was a great guy, but very political and sad of what happened with the Cultural Revolution. It was very tough."

Is your father still alive?
"No. He passed away a long time ago."

But he was around to see you as a successful filmmaker. Was he proud of you?
"I think so. But he was very worried about me because he didn't really feel that there was a need for me to do so much. He thought it was too much; that there was no time to take care of others. He said to my sister that he didn't want to have a son as a hero. I think that this was important advice that I took from him, which means that you really need to live like a normal person, not like a celebrity or a god. You can't."

Which is what your film is about.
"I think so."

Now that you have a family, you see that your father's advice was very wise.
"Without a family I wouldn't have realized how right his advice was. I was a little bit crazy before. Which means that my mind was full of different ideas, like long-term dreams. I became very ambitious which is good. But on the other hand it was bad because I hardly lived like a human being. And I became very nervous and insecure because of that."

And now with a child and a family, you've softened that.
"I think so. I still have a lot of plans and a lot of ideas. But there's no rush. I just want to do everything one by one."

You were inspired to do this film by a television documentary about a father that wanted his violinist son not so much to be famous, but to be settled. Why did that story touch you so much?
"It didn't just touch me emotionally, I saw this as sort of phenomena. Many Chinese peasants want their children to be successful, and this is a social issue. Not because they love the music, they just want to use music to open the door; this can lead them to be rich. You can see from the film how many people actually suffer that kind of impoverishment. They want to make their dreams come true. In the past you always see rich people teaching their children to use instruments, but now it's the complete opposite."

In the past 30 years, it wasn't often that you would see peasants go to the big city with their children. But now that's changed.
"Yes. I prefer they stay where they were. But they want a change, they want to have a better life. I don't think there is a need for too many people moving to the city, giving up the stuff they had. It's the beginning of an unknown world; no one knows what's going to happen to them. So there's a little bitterness mixed in this movie. Yes, this movie is entertaining and it has a sense of humour but obviously I want to tell people something important. Viewers can be at the same time observers of Chinese society. People can relate to the story and can understand themselves by understanding the characters."

You had to look a long time for someone to play Xiaochun. Why was it so hard?
"I am a director who can visualize everything in my mind. I saw this boy clearly in my mind so I knew exactly how this boy should be. So that's why, when my casting director brought me footage of Tang Yun, I said, 'That's him.' Because my view of this boy was very clear, not someone necessarily very good-looking but very sensitive and subtle. There is a sadness that can be seen in the eyes."

Halfway through the film we learn that Liu Cheng is not his real father. Why this twist?
"I think that if he is the real father it still works. But I just felt that for Chinese peasants what the father does in the movie is not exceptional. Everyone can do that. I hope that in the first half of the movie the audience will think that this father is selfish; he wants to just change the situation of the family. But in the second half, we know he's not the real father, and that he's not being selfish. This is very important for those abandoned children. There's a strong reason that he wants his son to be successful and that is because he wants him to be okay."

Leslie Cheung, the actor you made famous in Farewell, My Concubine, recently committed suicide by leaping off a building. Were you surprised by his action?
"Yes and no. Because I knew him so well, of course, I didn't expect him or predict that he would commit suicide. My first reaction was that he just turned himself into the character he played in the film. There is a big, big similarity between the character and himself, both of them wanted everything to be perfect. Everyone has dark moments in their lives and if he had a close friend around, he wouldn't have done it. But he did. He was an amazing talent."
Together opens in local cinemas on June 27.

Publication Date: 2003-06-22
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2864