Dir: Julian Chou | Drama, Taiwan – 2025 – 145’
Julian Chou’s sophomore feature, competing for this year’s Tiger Competition at Rotterdam International Film Festival, is a tender tale of complex family dynamics, societal pressures and suppressed desire in Taiwan, the first Asian country to legalise same sex marriage.
Shu-yi lives in an upmarket house with a successful surgeon husband whose only interest is her slim appearance and his patients. Family consists of an incontinent mother and rebellious medical student son Han who is expected to follow in his father’s footsteps. Overwhelmed by loneliness in her unhappy marriage Shu-yi re-kindles her connection with Xue-jin, a talented photographer, who is also attracted to Han.
The Taiwanese director sensitively explores the shifting dynamics between her characters in a film that deals with issues of gender identity in a refreshing way that shows how sexuality is often a moveable feast rather than just a fixed or binary state. Chou uses the film’s lengthy running time to flesh out these complex characters complemented by a gentle soundscape and Tamas Dobos’ subdued interiors and mellow visuals of Taiwan.
ROTTERDAM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL | TIGER COMP 2025