Accomplished screenwriter Huo Xin makes her feature directorial debut with this adaptation of Bound in Heaven, having its world premiere at the festival. While the film is a romance drama dealing with topics like terminal illness and domestic abuse, at its core it’s a story about one fierce woman persevering to finally allow herself to live free of anyone else’s influence after finally knowing what it’s like to be truly loved.
The year is 2010, and Xia You (the incomparable Ni Ni), a successful businesswoman is in an abusive relationship with her partner (Liao Fan). The couple having company at a dinner party doesn’t even deter him from exerting himself physically on her in another room. Desperate to attend a Faye Wong concert, which she had tickets for but was shamed into conceding to her husband to give away, she meets a scalper, Xu Zitai (Zhou You), and has a steamy one-night stand. A year later, in the streets of Wuhan, the star-crossed lovers meet again by chance, but this time Xia You makes a bold decision, and the pair must deal with the consequences.
A film with high enough stakes, Bound in Heaven does drag in parts, but it is well made and the performances are well done. This film lives and breathes because of Ni Ni. Her journey from a beaten yet defiant spouse to an independent woman is transformative and Ni Ni proves why she may be one of the best actresses in Hong Kong right now.
