The Farewell (2019)

★★★★

---

A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.

Classification: PG

---

Grief manifests in many different ways, and The Farewell is a film that understands and respects the complexity of the emotion with a true story that shows how different people cope with loss. What makes this story unique is that the loss hasn't occurred yet, they are helpless to stop it and only have a finite time to make peace with Nai Nai and to a further extent themselves because of their deception. Lulu Wang's script is gorgeous, highlighting not only eastern western cultural differences with Billi's American-Chinese heritage coming into conflict with her more traditional Chinese family beliefs but the humanity that exists within these cultures. The idea that Nai Nai should live her final months clueless to her fate to allow her to live unworried and unafraid can create debate within the audience especially those who have suffered from similar loss. It's a lie that eats deep not only into Billi but with every character as the family finally reunites to participate in the fraud giving extra layers to the comedy and drama of the film.

Even with its sombre setup, The Farewell finds comedy in the tragedy with a series of black comedy setups of the family having to go along with a wedding and to build the lie so they can all spend some final days with their loved one. Zhao Shuzhen who portrays the terminally ill Nai Nai is hilarious as she embodies all of the perfect qualities of a grandmother no matter your culture. She's warm, loving, stubborn and fiercely loyal to her family, while everyone including the bride and groom sees the wedding as the excuse for everyone see Nai Nai, she, on the other hand, sees its as an opportunity to celebrate the family in public. Tragically both sides are very similar in wanting to be together and Wang's script and direction constantly have the lies challenged but it comes down to the question of what is greater? The collective or the individual? Life is always counting down, you just don't realise until a doctor tells you when the time is up, with Billi whose personal and professional life appears to be in shambles now faces a pillar of her life leaving her, a sense of safety and stability being ripped from away from her. Billi has no control over what's happening with Nai Nai, not with her disease or how she will go forward with it, and she comes into conflict with her family who didn't even want her to come say goodbye.

Awkwafina as Billi is a tremendous performance, she captures the delicate balance of Wang's comedy and tragedy and shows how powerless the character is in the situation. The Farewell is about a reunion between granddaughter and grandmother but Billi is facing an uncertain future, she wants that security she had as a child to be told everything will be alright that her Nai Nai will be there to look after her. The character barely able to conceal the overwhelming grief shows Awkwafina's complexity as a performer and makes her scenes with Zhao Shuzhen so powerful and bittersweet. Wang's direction shows the aimless futility in trying to understand loss and death with candid conversations between Billi and her family members about her their inability to go along with the family plan. The family wants to use the wedding as an opportunity for a clean slate, to wipe away all pain and transgressions of the last twenty years, to bury all the pain beneath the lie. There is no control to be had with happens to Nai Nai, all they can really control are the final days with her and they do anything to have them be blissful.

The cinematography from Anna Franquesa Solano reflects the melancholy nature of the family's environment. Colour temperature and framing highlight the different emotional expectations of what's happening, The Farewell chronicles a time of joy for a family; a wedding but the way the characters are placed into this fanfare by the camera shows how shallow the whole affair is. What is to be a wedding is secretly operating as an early wake, one scene has Billi tearfully reflecting on how she can't handle the grief that's consuming her while surrounded by pink balloons in a room where a bride is preparing her makeup. It's an extra layer of bleak comedy to the drama, they all want Nai Nai surrounded by love and happiness and therefore have trapped themselves in a prison of social obligation and emotional repression. The reality of what awaits Nai Nai threatens to break the lie as every character struggles with their emotions and at no point does the film makes the audience uncomfortable witnessing these fragile moments. Wang skills as a storyteller give a real emotional intimacy to the film not just because of her probable personal connection to the true story but because she never allows The Farewell to descend into ridiculous hollow drama. The pain is real, the fear is real and the third act of the film will move the audience to tears because of the immaculate script and character work achieved throughout the runtime.

Emphatic by its nature, The Farewell has an amazing ability to tug at the heartstrings, the sympathy and sorrow one feels for Billi and her family has been felt a thousand times over by those in reality. The pain of loss is one of the promises of life, everything ends and the film shows a noble attempt to try and understand and examine how we should properly process that. Wang doesn't give moral righteousness to one argument both Billi and her family have their reasons for their beliefs and she gives respect to allow both sides to have their views and lets the audience decide who may have been in the wrong. Accompanied by a beautiful and moving score by Alex Weston that envelops the audience, it's the human moments that has actors and script fade and allows the film to become something more. The Farewell presents its unique tale in such a unique way that even with the anguish of what awaits one can't help but smile at the beauty of how it presents the magic of love and life.

---

Director: #LuluWang

Cast: #Awkwafina, #TziMa, #DianaLin, #ZhaoShuzhen, #LuHong, #JiangYongbo

Release Date: September 20th 2019

Trailer:

---

Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews

Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database