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‘Tuya’s Marriage’ delivers a wry, poignant tale
In the recent film Mongol, Genghis Khan’s oft-abducted wife complains about the quality of life among the warring tribes: “All Mongols ever do is fight and steal.” It’s an interesting point of comparison to the modern-day Chinese film Tuya’s Marriage, about a family of sheep herders in the vast Mongolian interior. Substitute the word “drink” for “steal” in Mrs. Khan’s complaint, and observe in this film how little things have changed for rural Mongolians— especially women—in the last nine centuries.Directed by Quanan Wang, from a script co-written with Wei Lu, Tuya’s Marriage was shot on location on the Mongolian steppes, using a largely non-professional cast. Its heroine, Tuya (popular Chinese actress Yu Nan, last seen in Speed Racer), is a sturdy young wife and mother of two who spends her days on camelback herding her family’s small flock of sheep across the grasslands. Every day, she must also trek to a distant well, her camel and donkey laden with plastic bottles, to ferry back the daily supply of water required by her family and livestock. Tuya’s husband, Batour, has been crippled in an accident while trying to dig a well close to the house on the family property. Now he stays home tending the children while Tuya manages all the heavy labor their shepherding life demands. As if looking after her herd, her husband, and her children isn’t exhausting enough, Tuya has frequent aggravating encounters with their neighbor, Senge, a young man plagued with a runaround wife, whose unhappiness makes him accident-prone; Tuya is constantly having to rescue him from his crashed motorcycle or overturned hay truck. It’s no wonder the minute Tuya comes in for the night and sits down with a bowl of stew, she falls asleep. Then one day, Tuya gets the bad news from the doctor in town: her labors have led to an incipient lumbar dislocation in her spine. If she doesn’t ease up soon, she could become as paralyzed as her husband. Batour’s sister, a widow with six kids of her own, advises Tuya to divorce Batour so he can come live with her, freeing Tuya to find a new, stronger husband to care for herself and her children. But Tuya has other plans. She and Batour agree to divorce, so she’ll be free to marry again, but continue to live together with their children as a family. As Tuya makes clear to each of the dubious suitors who soon come calling (drawn by Tuya’s work ethic and her “character”), any potential husband who wants Tuya for a wife must agree to support Batour as well. Filming among the people and plains of Mongolia, director Wang has expressed his desire to record the traditions and folkways of these ancient herding people, before the encroaching civilization of cell phones, television and motor vehicles swallows them up. Indeed, the onscreen details of the shepherds’ life, along with rituals of courtship and marriage, and the austere beauty of the landscape itself, are consistently engaging. But most stirring is the portrait of female fortitude as Tuya struggles to negotiate the best deal possible for those she loves, despite the pressures of custom, circumstance, and male ego. It’s a little frustrating that Wang’s provocative prologue is replayed at the end, but not carried that one step further into any hoped-for resolution. On the other hand, Wang sticks to his principles in that his film, like Tuya’s story, provides no simple answers to life’s complexities. TUYA’S MARRIAGE*** (out of four) With Yu Nan. Written by Wei Lu and Quanan Wang. Directed by Quanan Wang. Not rated. 90 minutes. In Mandarin with English subtitles.
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