Wu Kui (The Wooden Man's Bride)

The 1920s, the Republic of China has just been established and feudalistic prac­tices and ideas of democracy and equality clashed. When politica! and social unrest of this transitional period unravelled in other parts of China, the remote village presented in the film, seemingly undisturbed by it, becomes a microcosm reflecting the reality. What happens in the film revolves around one important aspect in Chinese culture and that is the order of family. Jianxin uses traditional Chinese marriage customs as a metaphor to represent that aspect. The absurd practice of asking a mistress to care for and sleep with a carved wooden man in place of her husband are the director's ways to intensify such metaphor.