Haven't seen a Chinese movie for a while and when the itch came, thought I'd pick an old one starring veterans Gua Ah-leh and Peter Yang. The Taiwanese film had been nominated for Best Film in the1971 Golden Horse Awards; so, thought watching You Can't Tell Him 庭院深深would be time well spent. Based on Qiong Yao's 1969 novel, this one has Gua Ah-leh married to a rich Peter Yang without the approval of a domineering mother. Married life thus becomes a torture as the mother-in-law mistreats her and she keeps mum to avoid sowing discord between mother and son. This old fashioned melodrama seems rather irrelevant in modern times. Couples live on their own nowadays; and modern career women with minds of their own wouldn't take mistreatment from mother-in-laws sitting down. Not this movie too; I bet.
Rating: 2.0 ⭐
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