Ai le zhongnian (Sorrows and Joys of a Middle-Aged Man)

"Sorrows and Joys of a Middle-Aged Man" is the third collaboration between writer Eileen Chang and director Sang Hu. Although more subdued than in her other screenplays, Chang nonetheless offers a satirical critique of the corruption inherent in patriarchal-Confucian family values. The screenplay and direction wrap this social critique in a comedy of manners centered on the eccentric school principal Chen and his intelligent and compassionate colleague Liu. Chen’s aggressive son Jianzhong—a war profiteer who knows how to capitalize on rampant inflation and political corruption in civil war-era Shanghai—wants to force his father into retirement. But Chen fights back. Despite their considerable age difference, Liu and Chen grow closer—much to the horror of his family. The popular actor and director Shi Hui plays Chen with warmth, tenderness, and radiant moral intelligence.