Peony Pavilion is one of those films that relies on the audience's knowledge of the source material for its meaning to be clear. In this case, the source is the classical drama and opera of the same name, and the film will be mostly obscure for anyone not familiar with the story.
For the sake of the uninitiated, the story is as follows: An official's daughter is virtually enclosed in her home, and knows nothing of the world outside. When her maid tells her about a lovely garden just behind her house, she finds herself obsessed with the thought of it and presses the maid to take her there. She adores the place, and after returning home, dreams that she is back there again, this time in the company of a young scholar who she has never seen before. She falls in love with this dream lover and refuses to accept the reality of her confined situation in the real world. Preferring her dream world, she dies. Only in her next life will she meet the man she loves.
I would not call this film inaccessible to a non-Chinese viewer. Once the story of the original drama is known, it is easy to locate the parallel plot in this modern version. This plot deals with Li Li and her friend Mi Mi. They are high school students cramming for college entrance exams. Without going into details about the plot, it mirrors the source material in many details. Li Li, for example is clearly the official's daughter 'imprisoned' by the pressures of having to succeed in exams, and also by a mother who is extremely 'religious', and strict with her about coming home on time. Her friend Mi Mi clearly plays the role of the maid who stimulates the eventual crisis. The 'garden' of her dreams is still very much the kind one would see in a 'costume drama', as she herself admits. Given that the classical drama is so well known (much like Shakespeare for English speakers), one might wonder whether she is unconsciously paralleling its plot, or seeking solace by evoking it, by imagining herself as the young woman, pining for the love of a young man she will only meet in her next life.
The second half of the film is harder to nail down in terms of the original drama. It deals with Yu Mei, a singer who rents the flat where Li Li used to live. In some ways, it parallels the same story (since the singer is also 'trapped' in her modern existence). In other ways, it complements the first story, since the singer will be more closely linked to the character of the scholar rather than the official's daughter. Again, it is hard to pin down whether her life is paralleling the play, or whether she is consciously seeking solace in it. In the end, I suppose, both cases can be true. The characters see their lives mirroring the play, and as they do so, draw closer to the characters they identify with.
The acting is competent, but there are no tour-de-force performances. Rene Liu, as the singer in the second story, stands out among the female leads. The background music helps the story along without being overdone, and there is also a nice pop song sung by the singer Yu Mei (though I don't know if it was sung by Rene Liu, or dubbed from someone else). The film also looks excellent - which is no surprise, since the cinematographer was Christopher Doyle (best known for his work with Wong Kar Wai).
Given the reliance of this film on the classical source, and the uses made of it, it is interesting to go back and think over the details of the film to see how aspects of the film parallel the original drama. This is a fruitful exercise, and leads to additional insights or angles on the film. The uses made of the source material are the star of this film and the reason for it. As a kind of self-conscious adaptation of the original drama, the film is quite interesting. Those looking for a straightforward drama may be put off by this kind of exercise, however.
