Saving Face

Reviewed by Christine Lee

Directed by: Alice Wu
Starring: Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, Lynn Chen

Directed by Alice Wu, Saving Face is based on Wu’s personal experiences coming out as a lesbian. The name of the film is a reference to the East Asian social concept of “face” which translates to one’s integrity and authority within a social network. Michelle Krusiec plays Wilhemina, a young Chinese-American surgeon living with her beautiful dancer girlfriend Vivian. When Wilhemina’s widowed, unwed mother becomes pregnant, she is ostracized by the Chinese-American community and comes to live with Wilhemina who hides her relationship with Vivian from her mother. The film explores Wilhemina’s dilemma as a second generation immigrant as well as her mother’s struggles with cultural expectations. As the story progresses, Wilhemina’s mother is told she must marry a man named Cho to regain her father’s “face” although she is in love with someone else and Wilhemina struggles with going public about her relationship with Vivian.