Hucheng No.7 Films Ltd.
Chinese writer-director Li Ruijun presents a romance about two lost souls finding their purpose together in a film that’s destined to become a modern classic.
Directed by: Li Ruijun
Year: 2022
Country: China
Length: 131 minutes
Ma (Wu Renlin) ‘Iron’ is the youngest of four brothers (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron). He’s a old-fashioned hardworking farmer who still uses a donkey and cart to work. Being the last unmarried son in his family, Ma is seen as a burden. He’s looked down upon by everyone around him and is only known as ‘the fourth brother’ in his city. From the get-go, however, it’s noticeable that Ma is a sensitive and caring person. We see him visit his mother, talking to her in a soft voice and making sure she’s still eating.
Guiying (Hai Qing) is a disabled woman who has been living in her brother’s backyard shed. She’s disabled, has a limp and has issues with her bladder, resulting in her frequently accidentally wetting the surfaces she sits on. Being an older disabled woman, Guiying is unlikely to find to find a husband, but her brother and sister-in-law desperately want to get rid of her. They contact the family of Ma and set up an arranged marriage for the two, so they won’t have to be ‘burdened’ again.
The first meetings between Ma and Guiying, the forced newlyweds, are awkward and silent. There’s clearly no connection between the two and even while their wedding picture is taken, they barely look at each other. That is, until one day the members of the small Chinese town are brought together to discuss a problem. The son of the businessman who pays the farmers in the town tells the residents that his father has gotten sick and needs a blood transfusion, before the workers can get paid. Ma is the only resident in the village with a compatible blood type for the procedure and is pressured to donate blood and even then his fellow townspeople still make fun of him. On the way to the procedure, Guiying gets sick and Ma helps her out of the car to throw up. This is the first in a series of acts of kindness that causes the relationship between the two to blossom. Being the outcasts of their society, Ma and Guiying awaken feelings in each other that they haven’t felt before, by giving each other love and care that they’ve both needed so badly, yet never received.
When the older houses in the village are set to be demolished, Ma and Guiying start building their own house. As their work progresses, so does their connection. There’s a kind of beauty that’s felt in these two outcasts who were never given opportunities feeling fulfilled after building something for themselves; something to be proud of. To see these souls prove, not to the world, but to themselves that they’re capable of living a happy life away from capitalism and oppressive, exclusionary systems, despite being ‘different’ from the rest and still care for others. The film emphasizes this during a scene in which the townspeople discuss how happy the couple is, secretly wishing a life like that for themselves, even though they used to look down upon these exact people.
Director Li Ruijun presents the story of the two lovers in an extraordinarily gentle and smooth fashion. The relationship between Ma and Guiying constantly progresses, which causes their characters to fully develop. The pace of this process moves so smoothly that it’s almost like you’ve been spending all that time, including the moments in between the scenes, with the characters. Their relationship is as organic as the work they do together on the farm. Their love is fueled for the care they have for each other, in a world that just wants to rid itself of them. Both actors deliver beautiful performances and their chemistry is some of the best we’ve seen in cinema. These characters don’t care for money, technology or materialism. The capitalist mindsets of the people around them doesn’t influence them, as it’s the exact one that they’ve been let down by for so long. What makes them happy is living, loving and building their own future together. Return to Dust shows that love, care and cooperation get one way further in life than any product of materialism ever will. Hopefully that’s also the message audiences will get out of this film.
Return to Dust premiered at the 2022 Berlinale Film Festival, as part of the official competition, where it competes for the Golden Bear.
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