Review of All in Love

I watched All in Love, a Taiwanese movie directed by Doze Niu Chen-Zer last month and I would like to share with you my view toward this movie from the genre study perspectives.

 

All in Love revolves around love relationships between eight major protagonists. A Kai has had an affair with Yi Jia, his girlfriend Xiao Ni’s best friend. After Xiao Ni has learnt that Yi Jia is pregnant, she becomes mad and decides to ‘solve’ the problem by committing suicide together with A Kai. At the same time, Mark, a Taiwanese entrepreneur who does not believe in love, met a Chinese real estate agent Xiao Ye. Love sentiments have developed between the two, though there is hatred between them at the first sight. Rou Yi, a celebrity whose spending is mostly supported by a rich businessman Lu Ping, is discontent with her aimless life. Until she meets Xiao Kuan who has inspired her to develop her own career, Rou Yi has fallen in love with Xiao Kuan.

 

All in Love, being categorized in love genre, is a piece which includes both breakthrough and reinforcement toward conventional narrative system. In a semiotic sense, some of the roles in the film are diverging from stereotypes which usually happened in love movies. For instance, Xiao Ni, in contrast to her bushed boyfriend doing nothing, is the one who takes the initiative to solve the problem, though she resorts to an unworkable method at last. Another character Rou Yi, who initially lives under the shadow of a rich man, finally becomes independent financially. All these are examples showing a reverse force toward traditional gender notions of women, being passive, dependent and trifling.

However, to a large extent, the movie is shrouded in the conventional narrative system with limited level of breakthrough. The movie is like a repetition of typical Hollywood film production. First, all the four storylines are about heterosexual romance. Although some of the female characters have become more independent, they at last have to resort to love which reinforces the subtext that only when a man and a woman staying together is the happiest way of life. Second, like many other love films, almost all of the characters in All in Love have ‘perfect’ happy endings in which each of them has found their beloved ones. As suggested by Todorov (1977), films tend to develop according to the structure of narrative process, which are initial equilibrium, disruption and restoration of equilibrium. Most of the love movies undergo with similar structure. You’ve Got Mail (1998), another romantic film, begins with a less desirable equilibrium in which the female and male protagonists cannot find their love. After a series of battles and quarrels on their business, they are in love with each other finally. All in Love is similar. Each of the characters is paired up and then each pair is faced with certain problems. Rou Yi, for example, initially stayed together with a rich man. She starts introspecting what she truly wants. At last, with the help of Xiao Kuan, she has figured out her solutions and found her ‘true love’ as well, constructing a typical happy ending of a love story.

 
       Artistically, I see All in Love a good piece as it includes a lot of heartfelt scenes which can successfully move audiences’ sentiments. In terms of semiotics, I found it is still bounded a lot by the conventional narrative structure.


by Lau Wing Sze, Alice (10419068/ 20855756)