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Fei-er (Ivy Ling Po) is one of two daughters of the Wen family, in ancient China. In order to get an education, she has poses as a young man. At the start of the film her two male friends from the college come with her to her house, and there is an extended sequence where they comment on her slight figure, and she mentions females in the past who had posed as boys and won success in the army; and she lifts some heavy weights that the men are unable to lift properly. However they don't suspect anything. (But I thought that the bamboo pole connecting the weights didn't seem to bend as much when she lifted it ... )
But now it is time for her to consider marriage; unable to decide on a preferred husband, she decides to shoot an arrow into the air, and whatever man picks it up will, she believes, have been chosen by fate as her husband. She does this and is dismayed when she later sees Chuang-tze holding the arrow, because she cannot love him. Only we know that Tu Tze-chong picked up the arrow and handed it to Wei Chuang-tze. Fei-er however feels bound by the decision of fate.
Fei-er's father was suddenly and wrongly arrested by the emperor's men, and instead of leaving as agreed to sit the State examination with her friends, she stays at home by her mother's side.
The two friends passed the exams, and Fei-er goes to visit them, in male disguise as before, and on the way, she rescues a girl, Chin Fu-chun, from a violent attacker. Fu-chun is impressed by Fei-er's bravery, and without delay asks Fei-er to marry her. Fei-er doesn't think of a plausible reason not to agree (such as "Sorry, I don't love you") and things now get difficult.
One of the friends, Tu, is at home when Fei-er arrives, and he insists that they should sleep "together", i.e. in the same room, and again Fei-er seems unable to think of a reason not to do so, so she sleeps fully clothed, including her hat, alongside him. Not surprisingly, Tu realises the truth, but doesn't disclose it; Fei-er keeps up the pretence, unaware that she has been discovered, but Tu pulls off Fei-er's hat and asks her to marry him, which she declines, because of her commitment to follow the fateful descent of her arrow. However Fei-er discovers that Tu Tze-chong was the one who picked up the arrow first.
Much of the dialogue is sung, and the photography is unusually good for the early date of the film; Western viewers would find this an interesting introduction to Chinese cinema.
HF December 2007
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