The new focus on women in film

New awakening

Her Story is director Shao Yihui's second feature set in Shanghai, China's most international city, known for its embracing of different lifestyles and ideologies.

After living there for six years, the Shanxi native and graduate of the Beijing Film Academy, who was born in 1991, made her directorial debut with B for Busy, a 2021 dark horse. With its mature narrative and keen insight, the film depicts the way educated women behave with independence, decisions and intelligence when in relationships, resulting in the film being hailed as one of the best female-oriented movies in recent years.

Her Story returns to familiar territory, centering on the lives of three female characters: Wang Tiemei, a former investigative journalist with a clear understanding of career and private life; Ye, a lovestruck band singer who falls for a playboy-like ophthalmologist; and Wang Moli, Wang Tiemei's 9-year-old daughter, an eccentric child who loves reading.

Despite difficulties and challenges, the three female characters keep their free spirit alive and follow their hearts.

The film highlights the women's strength and friendship, as exemplified by scenes in which Wang helps Ye get rid of a stalker late at night, and Ye helps Wang, a divorced single mother like her, care for her daughter. The two characters are neighbors in the same building. In addition, the film cleverly weaves female icons like Japanese sociologist Chizuko Ueno, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a late justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Mexican painter Frida Kahlo into the plot.

Shao, who says that she absorbed criticism from B for Busy, says that Her Story has been crafted from an authentic female perspective and that the title is a metaphorical play on "history", an adoption of a classic trope often used by feminists to critique the fact that history is all too often written by men.

The director also says that while a lot of films have depicted the awakening of women to the need of understanding and defending their rights, she found an issue when viewing these movies from the perspective of the general audience, as many women are already well-versed in gender equality.

"What happens after women awaken and how do men react when they gain insight into feminism? I want to incorporate my reflections on these questions into my work," she says, explaining the motivation behind Her Story.

By way of example, one of the movie's most popular scenes depicts the three female characters having dinner with male friends, engaging in a conversation that naturally touches on menstruation, a topic traditionally considered taboo in public discussion.

Speaking on the persistence of taboos in advertising for menstrual products, with some ads still shying away by using blue liquid instead of red to demonstrate the absorptive properties of their products, Shao says that this can mislead young viewers lacking the requisite knowledge of the human body.

"I think it will be a good thing if the movie sparks debates and propels social progress," she says.