WOMEN FROM THE LAKE OF SCENTED SOULS

By the standards of any culture, Mrs. Xiang would be hailed as a success. Sold into virtual slavery at seven, forced at thirteen to marry an abusive drunkard, she now runs a rustic sesame-oil factory whose product is so pure that the Japenese want to invest. When her hard-earned riches allow her to 'buy' a peasant girl, Huanhuan, as a bride for her uncontrollable, brain-damaged son, Mrs. Xiang finds herself questioning the prosperity that seems to distance her from her roots. No matter what she achieves, she's still a female in patriarchal society-and subservient to the least of its men. But maybe she can make things different for Huanhuan. Maybe… This excpetional and breathtaking drama about woman and the price paid personally and collectively for an emerging China is a haunting and resonant leap foward for Asian neo-realist cinema. -Charles Cassady. In Chinese with English subtitles.