Queerly Ever After #42: SAVING FACE (2004)

Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers. Also, don’t forget to buy your Queerly Ever After merch right here.

Alice Wu‘s feature film debut follows Wilhelmina ‘Wil’ Pang (Michelle Krusiec), a Chinese-American doctor who, while a lesbian, is closeted to her mother and traditional grandparents. Her mother Hwei-Lan Gao (Joan Chen) is constantly trying to set her up with eligible bachelors and weekly dances. At one of these dances, Wil meets Vivian Shing (Lynn Chen), a self-assured dancer who is openly gay. The two immediately lock eyes, but Wil lacks the confidence to approach. However, a few days later, Vivian, while visiting her father, runs into Wil at the hospital where she works. Sparks fly and the two embark on a tentative romance, with Vivian constantly wanting more but Wil is too afraid to come out of her shell.

Things get more complicated when Wil’s widowed mother reveals she is pregnant. Kicked out of the house by her father, Gao moves in with Wil, making it even more difficult for Wil to carry on her relationship with Vivian. Now, not only will Gao not admit who the father of her child is, she is an inescapable presence in Wil’s life, making herself at home in Wil’s Brooklyn apartment and even redecorating it.

A Mother-Daughter Movie

The heart of this film is the relationship between Wil and Gao. It explores how Gao’s unplanned pregnancy (out of wedlock no less) and cohabitation with her daughter, forces them to grow closer as parent and child, but also how Wil feels stifled by her traditional upbringing. Things become increasingly awkward when Wil finally acquiesces to let Vivian meet Gao and the three have dinner together. While Wil does not admit that Vivian is her girlfriend, Gao notices the little looks and gestures between them. Wil later reveals to her friend and neighbor, Jay (Ato Essandoh), that her mother once caught her in bed with another woman and has just refused to acknowledge the truth ever since.

Joan Chen, who fans will recognize from Twin Peaks, absolutely steals the movie as a woman who has spent her entire life doing what was expected of her, only to get widowed at a young age and then fall in love with a man she cannot admit to loving. The paternity of her baby is eventually revealed to be Little Yu (Brian Yang), an MTA engineer and the son of Old Yu (Mao Zhao), the community pharmacist. Little Yu also happens to be quite a few years younger than Gao, in fact, he is closer in age to Wil, which is why Gao has felt unable to admit her love for him.

Making New Traditions

After the mystery of Gao’s baby-daddy is revealed, Gao realizes that it’s time to leave some traditions aside and that she needs to accept her daughter for who she is, which includes accepting her sexuality. Unfortunately, Wil has screwed it up royally with Vivian, who was offered a three-year contract with the ballet in Paris and is now on her way to the airport. Gao decides that she and Wil are going to try to stop Vivian before she can get on the plane so Wil can make amends. Wil does end up finding Vivian before she boards her flight, but even with her mother’s acceptance, Wil is still too afraid to embrace Vivian in public and Vivian leaves for Paris.

Gao is not done though, she may not be trying to set her daughter up with eligible men anymore, but she still wants to see her daughter married. She conspires with Vivian’s mom to reunite the women when Vivian is home visiting. Gao drags Wil to another weekly dance, where Vivian has also been brought by her mother. It is then that Wil has the courage to approach Vivian and ask her to dance in front of everyone, and finally, she kisses her.

In Conclusion: Saving Face

Saving Face is a beautifully crafted movie about the fight between family tradition and finding a new way for yourself. At its heart, it’s a wonderful story of a mother and daughter figuring out how to connect as adults, and how each of them has to accept the other for who she is, not who she is expected to be.

Saving Face came out in the USA on June 24, 2005, and in the UK on December 12, 2005. For all other release dates, see here.

Watch Saving Face