Conjugal Affairs
(AKA In Between AKA The New
Age of Living Together)
Reviewed by YTSL
Two’s company, three’s a crowd. So goes
an English saying. To fans of such as “The Heroic Trio”, “Peking
Opera Blues” and “The Soong Sisters”, however, three can seem like an ideal
number. Then there are those Hong Kong movies -- including “Boys
Are Easy”, the “It’s a Wonderful Life” that doesn’t star James Stewart
as well as the “All’s Well, Ends Well” series of Chinese New Year offerings
-- whose makers appear to subscribe to the idea of it being so that “the
more, the merrier”; hence their being populated with three or more pairs
of ace actors and actresses (who, more often than not, turn out to be --
in more than one sense -- game jokers).
Like the majority of the latter efforts, CONJUGAL
AFFAIRS focuses on a group of personalities who share a home. However,
while the core individuals of those other works tended to be related by
blood or (eventually) through marriage, the trio at the heart of this movie
happen to be: The landlady of a spacious apartment (Maggie Cheung’s
busy Co Co -- as the name gets spelt out in the English subtitles -- character
also is a boutique owner); and her two tenants (One of whom, a hairstylist
known as Eddie, is played by Jan Lam; the other of whom, a stockbroker
named Steven, is essayed by Nicky Wu). Something else that helps
this Unique Films Ltd. offering live up to its production house’s name
is the romantic drama-comedy’s being structured in the form of three loosely
connected segments that have their own titles -- of “Star Hunter”, “Lonely
Hearts Club” and “Unwed Mother” respectively -- as well as are helmed by
different directors.
Although all three of the apartment mates do make
early appearances in CONJUGAL AFFAIRS, the first third of this 1993 film
really centers on Eddie, whose disinclination to be romantically tied down
to a single person causes his girlfriend to give up on their relationship.
Before too long though, another female turns up in this Samson Chiu directed
section of the offering to test his resolve (One that he is disposed to
articulate in terms of “Don’t give up the heavens for the sake of one single
star”). Seeing as the somewhat mysterious Icy comes in the form of
Wu Chien-Lien (whose more notable roles include “Beyond Hypothermia”’s
cold-blooded assassin, an utterly terrifying “Intruder” and a deceptively
innocent looking revenge-seeker in “Dragon Town Story”), I had visions
for a while there of the actually rather sweet-natured Eddie suffering
a horrible fate at the hands of the admittedly pooky-faced woman with whom
he initially struck up a fun (but) platonic friendship. And while
my paranoid fears did prove to be groundless, I’ll still vouchsafe that
this portion of the movie does have the least satisfactory conclusion (as
well as overall story plus choice of music).
At around the 30 minute mark of the film, attention
shifts from Eddie (and Icy) to Steven. Although Nicky Wu does manage
to hold his own in the charm and acting department vis a vis the other
-- sometimes way more illustrious -- members of CONJUGAL AFFAIR’s cast,
this Yon Fan helmed second -- and middle -- segment of the movie really
only comes to life when he is joined on centre-stage by Sylvia Chang (who
is absolutely radiant as well as very glamorous looking here, as befits
her role as a Tai Tai named Anna). It takes a while for this to happen,
since Steven is initially shown to be pre-occupied with trying to please
a girlfriend he has known since they were children (but not succeeding
due to her being too infatuated with Andy Lau!). However, some magical
and special moments ensue after the young man meets an older, more mature
and sophisticated -- yet emotionally vulnerable as well as open -- woman
by way of a blind date arranged over the phone.
Not long after her Anna character departs from
the picture, Sylvia Chang takes over the driving reins of the remaining
third (section) of CONJUGAL AFFAIRS. The portion of the movie in
which Winston Chao (whose Fai, Co Co has had on and off -- then back on
again -- relationship for six years) and Eric Kot (who plays Co Co’s gay
friend and business partner, Ah Keung) fairly prominently figure -- along
with Co Co and a Russian fellow named Nicholas -- is one that I wouldn’t
be surprised to find had also been scripted by the multi-talented Ms. Chang.
In any case, that which had the potential to be the most serious part of
this offering -- due to its main, unmarried character finding out that
she was going to be a mother, and not knowing which of two men fathered
her child -- turned out to be quite thought-provoking yet also possess
what was by far the film’s funniest scene (and one that might well be one
of the most hysterical giving birth enactments I have ever had the good
fortune to view!).
Multi-stranded movies run the risk of seeming
too unfocused. Multi-star ensembles are liable to have some of their
characters feel too under-developed and unnecessary. Multi-director works
seem to have a high chance of too many cooks spoiling the broth.
To be sure, CONJUGAL AFFAIRS has faults that include its transitions from
one story to another being on the abrupt side along with certain of the
film’s characters obviously existing primarily to help define others (and
consequently not appearing to be all that three-dimensional). Alternatively,
this (re)viewer actually liked that this offering had the emotional as
well as perspectival range that it did because of its bearing the imprint
of three different auteurs as well as being less like a conventionally
configured work and more of a three part anthology.
My rating for the film: 7.5