Subtitles:

English, none

Extras:

• Trailer

A man must care for a woman who has devoted her life to looking after him in this drama from filmmaker Ann Hui. Roger (Andy Lau) is a successful movie producer with a housekeeper, Ah Tao (Deanie Ip), who has worked for his family over the course of four generations. Ah Tao has been a nanny and maid for Roger's family for nearly all her adult life, and he looks upon her as a member of the family rather than an employee. When Roger comes home one day to discover Ah Tao has suffered a severe stroke, its' clear she's no longer up to the demands of her job, and he agrees to help her relocate to a nursing home. Roger, the only member of his family still living in Hong Kong, is eager to help, but he's unsure of just how much he's supposed to do for her and is afraid to seem neglectful; Ah Tao, on the other hand, doesn't want to be a burden to Roger, and their relationship goes through an awkward period as their roles reverse and he becomes her caregiver. Set against the backdrop of the Hong Kong film industry, Tao Jie (aka A Simple Life) features cameos appearances from such luminaries as Sammo Hung and Tsui Hark.

If you’ve ever watched, say, a film by the Japanese master Ozu, and wondered why nobody makes understated family dramas delivering essential truths anymore – then this awards-laden Hong Kong production from veteran director Ann Hui is definitely for you. Based on the true story of the film’s producer Roger Lee and his servant, it’s essentially about how we define family bonds, following Roger (action star Andy Lau in a serious change of pace) and his elderly family maid Ah Tao (stalwart character actress Deannie Yip) after she suffers a stroke.

No, it doesn’t sound like the stuff of pulsating drama, but the film’s unhurried way of letting us surmise the rippling ramifications of this situation is very touching. Stoic Ah Tao has been working as an in-house maid for workaholic film industry bachelor Roger. She has cared for him since he was a baby, but for all the time she’s put in, does their relationship amount to anything more than master and servant? Moreover, as Roger begins to realise her place in his life (he’s professionally successful but emotionally a desert), we note the contrast between his relaxed demeanour with Ah Tao and stiffer relationship with his grande dame of a mother.

Lau’s astute performance is rather like the film as a whole – at first you think it’s underdone, but it’s actually cannily judged to favour genuine feeling over pushy sentimentality. As indeed is Deannie Yip’s marvellous central turn as a woman who yearns to belong but whose inveterate submissiveness is shaped by decades of deference and class difference. An exquisite and wise moment of celluloid portraiture.

Gary Tooze

February 1st, 2013