Tuya's marriage

Original movie title:
Tuya De Hun Shi
Country:
China
Director:
Wang Quan’an
Cast:
Yu Nan
Awards:
Berlin 2007.- Golden Bear

synopsis

Tuya is the persevering wife of Bater, a herdsman who lost his legs exploring water in the Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia) grassland that is fast vanishing as a result of desertification. She takes up the sole responsibility to make a living for the family, but develops a dislocated lumbar from her hard labor and risks paralysis herself. Faced with harsh reality, the couple decide to divorce so that Tuya can seek a better life. Imposing her own conditions of a remarriage - her new husband must take care of Bater, their children and their poor herding land, the strong-minded, stubborn, but also gentle, susceptible Tuya embarks on an arduous search for a new husband, and meets suiters who are rich but disingenuous, likable but shy, and saves a suicidal Bater who still longs for Tuya and their children along the way.

Tuya herself is a strong character, carrying the film and her family on her shoulders, though showing enough touching glimpses of vulnerability to endear herself to the viewer.
- Beyondhollywood.com