Director Wayne Wang has dotted his career with films about women, like THE JOY LUCK CLUB and MAID IN MANHATTAN. His latest is 'SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN', based on Lisa See's novel about the special friendship between women in China, a sisterhood known as laotong. The film charts the lives of two women in the late 19th century, Snow Flower and Lily, whose experiences are reflected in the relationship between two women in contemporary Shanghai, Sophie and Nina, played respectively by LI BINBING and JIANG WU. Just as Nina is about to head off to a top financial job in New York she learns that Sophie has had an accident and is in a coma. As she sits by her friend's bed in hospital she discovers a novel that Sophie has written about Snow Flower and Lily.

Women in the world of the late 19th century are subject to the whims of not only their husbands but of their mothers-in-law. When the lives of Snow Flower and Lily diverge into vastly different social environments their friendship is tested.

The screenplay by Angela Workman, Ron Bass and Michael Ray is often didactic, with stilted dialogue which is not helped by Wayne Wang's direction. And Rachel Portman's music score is often way too overwhelming, really pulling on those heartstrings. But there is a very interesting story explored here about women's friendship, the different assumptions of power, the loyalties, often misplaced, the desire to protect the other, also often misfiring. And the two actresses at the centre of the film are both beautiful and subtle in the creation of their characters. The film gains power as it progresses. It also looks absolutely beautiful, particularly the sequences set in the past, cinematographer Richard Wong has done a fabulous job. You don't want to move out of the sumptuous colours of the past into the rather drab world of contemporary Shanghai.

This film get female friendship right. Or nearly right!

ABC
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