All About Love – The Xian Chao Fan (2010)

Directed by: Ann Hui | 105 minutes | comedy, romance | Actors: Sandra Ng Kwan Yue, Vivian Chow, William Chan Wai-Ting, Siu-Fai Cheung, Yee-Man Man, Jo Kuk

For a Hong Kong layman, ‘All about Love’ will provide a surprising picture of the city. Women seem to be completely self-sufficient, and men seem to be chasing after that. Could the choice of this theme also be a reference to Hong Kong’s relatively young culture? In a modern city like this, is there room for new and experimental forms of family composition and sexuality? It most certainly looks like it, and this immediately discusses the most interesting aspect of the film. A film like this naturally tells us all about Hong Kong and its residents. Apart from this insight into modern Hong Kong and two charming lead roles, the film unfortunately offers too little to really captivate.

The bisexual Macy, a successful and assertive lawyer, on the one hand seeks to connect with her lesbian friends, who sometimes hold radical views, but also occasionally enjoys the game of seduction with men around her. However, she falls in love with her former friend Anita, who herself, like Macy, is also skipping between different identities. The two got pregnant unplanned, Macy by her neighbor and client and Anita by a much too young one night stand. Both men fervently hope to have a share in the future lives of the women, who only sparingly allow it. The women first have to figure out what they want for themselves, with or without each other and any babies. The film shows their search for themselves and – of course – love.

The film is certainly surprising, sympathetic too, but nowhere does the story really touch. Therefore the themes are treated superficially, the story is spread out too long and the soundtrack with title track ‘You’re the one’ is almost unbearably sweet. With the sequence surrounding Anita’s impending resignation, and the lesbian protest against it, director Hui could have made a political point of view, but is not doing so. The theme is only lightly touched upon to further the events of the story.

‘All about Love’, like its main two main characters, is always somewhere in between. Not romantic enough for a romantic comedy, and not funny enough for a stronger emphasis on the comedy part. Not subtle enough for a place in serious world cinema, but too Hong Kong to compete with your average Hollywood comedy. For the enthusiast the benefit of the doubt, especially because of the strong lead roles. The film never takes sides, an initially charming feature that, however, creates too much distance at the end of the ride for the viewer to really get involved.