From the Archives: You Talk to Your Mother About Us?
‘Saving Face’ and the art of a perfectly executed lesbian romcom
The Yearning Rating: ✰✰✰✰½
Romance: ✰✰✰✰
Sex: ✰✰✰✰½
Storytelling: ✰✰✰✰
Performance: ✰✰✰✰
Yearning: ✰✰✰✰✰
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Written by Meg Steinfeld-Heim
You know how rom-coms these days just feel so…overproduced and shiny? All the characters are conventionally hot, there seems to be a zoning requirement keeping everyone within a certain proximity to a beach, and the plot foils are predictable yet never quite insurmountable? This movie is none of that—and it's so damn perfect! If you’re not already familiar, let me introduce you to Alice Wu’s 2004 indie darling, Saving Face. This is a genuine, leave-a-smile-on-your-face lesbian rom-com with real depth, making it the perfect option to watch with your Valentine (or heck, go ahead and watch it alone!).
Saving Face is a story about coming out with the truth in more ways than one. It centers on Wilhemina ‘Wil’ (Michelle Krusiec), a Chinese-American lesbian working through her surgery residency in Manhattan. In a charming, frazzled way she simultaneously straddles her workaholic first-gen life and the Chinese immigrant community of her mother and grandparents in Flushing, Queens. With her father having passed away, she has a close relationship with her magnetic-yet-overbearing Ma, Hwei-Lan (Joan Chen). Ma is fixated on fulfilling the cultural expectations of their community—namely, marrying Wil off to the most eligible, approvable Chinese bachelor in town. Wil just couldn’t care less and also—if you couldn’t tell from her button down shirts and boyish slacks—she’s gay.
But the independent Wil is in for quite a shock when out of nowhere, her 48-year-old mother appears on her doorstep, tearstained and laden with belongings. An out-of-wedlock, late-in-life pregnancy has left her disgraced and banished from Flushing and their traditionalist community by Wil’s stern grandfather until she marries. While unexpectedly taking in her newly pregnant mother—who will not reveal who the father is of her child—Wil finds her own secret love in the form of her boss’ daughter, Vivian Shing (Lynn Chen). In that perfect romcommy way, Vivian is the total opposite of Wil; she’s confident, sexual, and poised where Wil is awkward, reserved and a little bit dorky. Vivian is a professional dancer and embodies the artistic archetype without it being over the top (this takes real skill). Vivian pulls, bringing Wil out of her shell with each affectionate tug.
As Vivian and Wil’s chemistry blooms and their closeted romance continues, the differences in the way that they move through the world are thrown into sharp relief. But regardless, their connection is palpable and fun; they flirt and play and are so sweet with each other. There is a genuine connectedness between them that the viewer can sense! Vivian is both out and outspoken, and struggles with impatience as the anxious Wil finds it harder and harder to escape her mom’s vigilant disapproval. There’s an adorable scene between the two of them while in bed, and they overhear Vivian’s mom leaving a voicemail on her home phone, inquiring if Wil is still there. “You talk to your mother about us?!” Wil asks in mock outrage. While this exchange is silly and lighthearted, it still underscores the differences in their families. I also appreciated how real this moment was, because while she plays it off, to some extent Wil is absolutely reckoning with what being comfortably out to your parents would be like. Family drama and disapproval and the timing of coming out journeys often impact queer relationships. The two go on to have (very steamy) sex, and I found it believable and authentic that all these feelings and moments could be lumped into one night. Falling in love is not linear or organized!
In an attempt to placate her disapproving grandfather and also regain some of her independence, Wil begins arranging a series of potential-husband dates for her unenthused, pregnant mom. The parallels between mother and daughter extend past their furtive romantic endeavors as they both continue to work towards finding the courage to share with each other and the world what it is that they really want.
This movie is so well crafted. It adheres to the traditional structure of a rom-com, but deftly manages to weave queerness, Chinese diaspora culture, early-aughts NYC and unwed pregnancy drama all together without feeling overwrought or overly complicated. It’s shot simply and sincerely on 35mm film, the blurred edges and warm grain making you feel nostalgic for both the vitality and grit of the city. Saving Face uses the tools that come with the genre to tell a captivating, compelling story. It’s a genre film that isn’t white, toxic, or even assimilationist. Most important of all, Vivian and Wil’s love takes up space.
After you watch this movie, you too will ask yourself, why aren’t there more cute, effective, non-corny and non-white rom-coms like this?? Well, it might have something to do with just how hard it was for director Alice Wu to pull this one off. In 2002, the Saving Face script won a contest sponsored by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. But after winning this award, Wu found that studios interested in developing the film had different plans. She wanted to direct (they wanted someone else), her story was about Mandarin-speaking Chinese-Americans (they wanted to whitewash it), and her script was about lesbians (they wanted to make it straight).
Even as Wu remained adamant in the story she wanted to tell, we can see the small ways in which these pressures had their effect—like how all the original posters for Saving Face only feature Ma and Wil. None of them center the central queer love story. I should also take this moment to shout out the homophobic Prime Video description of this movie which in no way references that this is a queer love story. When she finally got a meager 2.5 million in financing for this film, Wu had a hard time finding Mandarin-speaking stars and cast the relatively unknown Michelle Krusiec and Lynn Chen to play Wil and Vivian. It’s a testament both to these actors and to Wu that they bring such magic to this story.
The threads of this story are braided together to illustrate so many kinds of growth. All three main women—Ma, Wil, and Vivian—are grappling with whether or not they will conform to what is expected of them or if they will take a risk on their own happiness. Vivian’s character portrayal is so multidimensional; she has empathy for Wil, but remains adamant that she deserves an out-loud, in-front-of-all-these-people love. Saving Face is thoughtfully constructed until the very end, when a fun twist on the unplanned pregnancy drama is revealed and the quintessential early-aughts kiss on a crowded dance floor happens. It’s really a special movie with a happy ending that feels earned and joyful. I think you’ll love it.
Saving Face is available to rent on Amazon Prime and other platforms. Watch it with your lover or your hater!
The Elephant in the Werkroom
Season 16, Episode 6:
I’m feeling a little underwhelmed by this season because it feels so obvious who the tops and bottoms (lol) are.
Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige, Morphine Love Dion, Megami sit at the bottom for me. Xunami Muse and Plasma will last a few more episodes. Dawn will either claw her way out of toppish-safe or be eliminated before the top 4—Nymphia, Sapphira, Plane Jane, and Q—are locked in. I would love to be surprised but I don’t think I will be?!
For all the hype and talk about Mhiya’s flips, they did eat!! She turned it out during Control, unfinished hems and all. She deserved that win!
The look on the judges’ faces when Sapphira drank her immunity potion…
This dolls challenge had the potential to be fun and creative but it really fell flat to me. I guess most of these queens aren’t that funny?
I noticed something different in the edit of the werkroom…there was a lot of “don’t copy me!” energy and girls chasing others away from their stations. I’m not sure what that was about but I’m anticipating more werkroom antics as the season continues (I would really rather see longer critiques but okay).
Will Q stop whining now that she has a win under her belt?! Kidding—she totally deserved it and I’m happy for her; that garment was truly gorgeous. She’s one of my favorites this season!
It’s truly a perfect film we need 10x more of these movies stat