A Woman

At first, the titular heroine Kong Xiu seems like a typical factory worker in Mao’s China. Lithe, demure, charming, and intelligent, she appears to be a model citizen. However, while she tows the party line on the surface, in her personal life she extolls the virtues of resilience and resistance against institutionalized sexism and other forms of oppression as best she can. As history marches on through two unhappy marriages and she raises her beloved children, Kong Xiu perseveres and eventually pursues what she thought was an impossible dream. Director Wang Chao’s adaptation of Zhang Xiuzhen’s semi-autobiographical novel is told in sweeping episodes that eloquently describe the hidden hardships of the era. Wang paints the canvas of the end and aftermath of the cultural revolution in broad but delicate strokes that subtly reveal the fissures of humanity in the shadow of the so-called “greater good.”