Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) tells the stories between an old widowed father (Mr. Chu) and his three daughters of different personalities. The title of this film is borrowed from a quote in the Book of Rites: "饮食男女，人之大欲存焉 Eat, Drink, Man, and Woman are human's greatest needs", which stresses Confucius' idea that food and sex are basic human desires.

Audiences are bombarded with delicious-looking feasts throughout the movies, which show the element of food. The portrayal of this element is magnificent as a large number of dishes are always presented in every meal. 

On the other hand, besides the sex scene that Jia Chien (second daughter) engages in with her ex-boyfriend (Raymond), the element of sex has been subtly portrayed. Repression of sex has been seen in Mr. Chu and Jia Jen (the eldest daughter). Mr. Chu has been repressing his desire for sex since the death of his wife sixteen years ago when he was still in the stage of middle adulthood, which average people would maintain a normal sexual life. Thus, it is not surprising to see Jin Rong being pregnant after her marriage with Mr. Chu as Mr. Chu can finally fulfill his need for sex. 

At the same time, Jia Jen makes up a story about her past failure in a relationship to repress her desire for love and sex.  I believe that she lies because she feels responsible towards taking care of his father during his old age. Thus, she pretends to show disinterest towards sex and love by living in the love of God, shutting herself off from the external world by listening to hymns and dressing up conservatively. Moreover, she feels disturbed to see others' romance (e.g. throw away her student's love letter). If she has no interest towards romantic relationship, she would not have been bothered by others' romantic interactions. In the end, she gets married immediately when she finally cannot repress her strong affection towards Ming Dao. 

Jia Ning (the youngest daughter) at her 20s, although appears to be an obedient child, engages in premarital sex and becomes pregnant. This reflects the strong sexual desire during the young adulthood stage she is in. All these sudden marriages and pregnancy have subtly illustrated human's need for sex.

Besides the two elements on food and sex, a major concept in this film is family relationship. The family structure of a single father and three daughters has already posed some common challenges faced in a single father-daughter relationship (e.g. difficulties to deal with daughter's emotions) to Mr. Chu. To make it worse, as a typical Chinese father, Mr. Chu is not very expressive of his love towards his daughters. He shows his affection towards them only through the preparation of great feast every week when the whole family gathers for a meal and his taking care of their welfare (e.g. when he wakes his daughter up every morning and when he washes their undergarments). However, he feels reluctant to show his love in a more direct manner. When Jia Chien replies "Good Morning!" to him with a smile on one morning, he does not reciprocate the love Jia Chien shows but only turns away and leave. This limits the interaction between father and daughters and eventually leads to the exaggerated "surprised announcements" of pregnancy and marriages during meal time.

Another relationship barrier is seen between Jia Jen and Jia Chien. Jia Jen takes up the role of a mother when their mother dies and this shuts Jia Chien off from her. The turning point of their relationship occurs when they wash the dishes together. When Jia Jen admits in tears that she broke the plate, this signals that she has stepped away from the powerful mother figure she held and takes back her role as a sister.  

The final issue on family relationship I would like to address is the empty nest experienced by Mr. Chu. I like the contradiction between the magnificent feast and the reduction of family members around the dining table throughout the movie, which illustrates the tension of empty nest experience has on the family. Mr. Chu's gradual deterioration of the sense of taste plays a symbolic representation for the empty nest syndrome. To be able to taste, one has to bear the consequences of tasting bitterness, sour and saltiness besides sweetness. The negative feelings ("bitterness") resulted from the empty nest experience may have led to Mr. Chu’s dysfunctional taste buds. Towards the end of the film when "sweetness" finally comes into his life (Jia Chien shows her love towards him and takes up the responsibility to have family gathering), he gains back his sense of taste, which shows that his dysfunction is psychological in nature.

Lastly, the various techniques Ang Lee used in the film interest me. The exaggerated portrayals of the feast and the family interaction around the dining table highlight the importance of these elements in the movie. In addition, the subtleties Ang Lee introduced in the film actually hint audience about the progress of the plot. At the beginning of the film, we see Mr. Chu answers a call and teaches the way to cook a fish. On the same day during Jin Rong's visit to their house, Jin Rong's daughter reveals that her mother messed up a fish dish. This hints the close relationship between Mr. Chu and Jin Rong. Moreover, the facial similarity between Mr. Chu’s wife (which is shown on the dead portrait at the beginning of movie) and Jia Chien shows that they are alike in personalities.

Eat, Drink, Man, and Woman, which represents the basic needs and relationships, are common and normal for people. However, it is the complexities and uniqueness of eat, drink, man and woman to every one of us which make our lives significant.