A gentle female voice drifted out from the screen. Her voice was clear and melodious, telling a story in a gentle and flowing manner.
"I was only five years old when I first met the mute woman."
"She was wearing a brightly colored dress with a very unique design. I've never seen such a beautiful dress before.
"I took my mother's hand, pointed at her, and said..."
As the female voice narrates, a cute, chubby little girl appears on screen.
It was a fairly tidy mud house. The little girl, drooling, pointed at the mute old woman whose body was only partially visible and whose face was not, and innocently said, "Mom, look at her clothes! I want one too..."
The little girl's mother tugged at her: "Quiet! Don't say anything!"
Another girl came out from the inner room at this moment, carrying a schoolbag on her back, with a sullen face.
The little girl's mother forced a smile: "Xiaoyue, come here to Auntie!"
Young Pinghua pulled a dirty banknote, flattened and smoothed out, from under the kang mat and handed it to the little girl's mother, apologeticly smiling: "Mengli, thank you for your help. The old lady just arrived, and I can't leave..."
Mengli declined several times, but finally put the banknotes in her pocket: "It's okay! Anyway, Xiaoyue and Xiaoxiao are in the same kindergarten."
"Wa ...
The mute woman's cursing interrupted their conversation. Pinghua looked embarrassed, exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then hurriedly went back into the house.
Mengli patted Xiaoxiao's head and said, "Go, hold your sister's hand, let's go to school today!"
Xiaoxiao twisted her body and stepped forward to grab Xiaoyue's hand. Xiaoyue pulled away, looking unhappy.
Xiaoxiao was dumbfounded and glanced at Mengli.
Mengli didn't argue with the child, and said with a smile, "Xiaoyue, your mother is busy and can't take you to kindergarten... Once things are settled, she can take you to school next week..."
Xiao Yue pouted and reluctantly took Xiao Xiao's hand.
Two little girls, around five or six years old, walked out of the gate hand in hand and were lifted onto a donkey cart by Mengli. The skinny, bristly donkey snorted, and Mengli waved a willow branch: "Giddy up!"
The donkey trotted along, carrying the cart and its passengers, tirelessly making its way to the village entrance.
The wheels pressed dust and long ruts into the yellow sand. The camera followed the ruts, tracking the pattern on the gray-black tires of the donkey cart.
The wheels came to a stop, and the camera panned upwards from the wheels... The donkey cart had transformed into a blue tricycle, and two girls, around thirteen or fourteen years old, jumped down from the back of the tricycle.
Xiaoxiao and Xiaoyue have both grown up.
"You two are starting junior high the day after tomorrow!" Mengli announced generously. "Each of you will pick out a new outfit!"
Xiaoxiao and Xiaoyue followed Mengli into a large market stall. The stall was filled with a dazzling array of goods. As they walked, Xiaoxiao suddenly pointed to a stall selling needles and thread scraps, and winked at Xiaoyue.
Xiao Yue was slightly taken aback, then she and Xiao Xiao started pushing each other and laughing together.
"I only found out later—"
The female narrator's voice sounded again.
"Later I learned that the clothes the mute woman wore back then were called 'the clothes of a hundred families.' She sewed them herself by hand using all sorts of scraps of cloth she had collected, dirty clothes that others didn't want, and even discarded diapers. It was her favorite piece of clothing, and she wore it almost every day to parade around the village. Everyone in the village recognized it..."
As the female voice narrates, various scenes flash by in the camera.
"One day, Xiaoyue's father finally couldn't bear it any longer and personally ripped the clothes off the mute woman's body. He then stuffed them into the stove and burned them."
The accompanying image is of the mute woman screaming in agony, but the sound has been cleverly muted. The image only shows the mute woman's gaping, ferocious face, while the narration flows like water off-screen.
Shang Yechu initially thought that the plot of "The Mute Woman" would be flat, like a gray and yellowish documentary. However, after watching for more than ten minutes, she found that the film had a real cinematic quality.
As this was his first film role, Gu Wenhua's editing skills were still somewhat immature. Plus, the crew was so poor they were practically selling their pants, and the subject matter was a rural film, so the scenes couldn't be particularly grand or lavish. But simplicity doesn't equate to cheapness.
Gu Wenhua's filming locations are beautiful—not in the sense of picturesque scenery, but in the clean composition and minimalist beauty. Whether it's a distant or close-up view of a village, or the interplay of land and people, every frame of the film exudes the rich, earthy feel of the land. Yet, it is profound without being harsh, weighty without being murky.
Some directors, when making films about rural life, tend to portray it as overly melancholic and resentful, believing that everyone is suffering and everything is hopeless. This overemphasis on the weight of the land can create a cumbersome and greasy feeling. Other directors or artists, however, often have a romanticized, idyllic view of rural life—a kind of affluent filter created by the overindulgence of the wealthy. Their portrayals of rural life are often overly delicate and frivolous, light and refreshing, ultimately imbuing the working class with a bourgeois sentimentality.
"The Mute Woman" doesn't belong to either of these two categories. It's more like a car speeding past a golden wheat field. The people in the car can't see the shadows of every single crop, but they can immediately tell that these are ripe crops, not floating yellow sand.
The film's scene transitions are skillfully executed, with almost no abrupt, direct transitions.
Xiaoxiao and Xiaoyue grew up twice as the wheels and ruts changed;
The fire used to burn the mute woman's clothes gradually became the sacrificial fire used to burn paper money at her grave.
A spider dangled from the roof beam with a transparent thread. The camera focused and changed, revealing the mute woman behind the spider, her gray hair hanging down, scraping herself with a wooden comb.
Xiaoxiao drew a crosshair on a piece of paper, drew an arrow above the axis, and labeled it with the word "North." In the next scene, she and Xiaoyue went their separate ways...
The entire film evokes a sense of indescribable intimacy and subtlety. The cinematography is rich in information, far from being dull or boring; on the contrary, it feels exceptionally fulfilling. It's like a leisurely horse-drawn carriage ride.
Shang Yechu's eyes never left the screen; he was intently watching his first real movie.
On the screen, Xiao Yue is hunched over her desk, diligently doing her homework.
Pinghua moved closer to Xiaoyue, looked at her daughter for a while, and slowly said, "Baby~ look at this."
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