Sheng si jie

This movie has a basic problem - a disconnect between the facts of the story it tells and the tone it takes. The man Muyu is a dastardly character, no doubt about it, but consider that he works quite hard living with the main female character, that he makes little money from his horrible swindle. He remains a struggling ex-villager who is now a worker.

Yet the tone is that the woman with intellectuals for parents has been deeply wronged, no matter how much her emotional blindness and stupid moves contribute to her fate. In one scene he tells her of his disdain for the educated and smugly observes how he, a lowly guy, has swindled her. The message of the film, and it certainly has a message, is that intellectuals should beware and dislike ordinary working folks. The character type of the latter is this womanizing, swindling guy. (Incidentally, the art-film style guarantees that intellectuals more than most folks will be the viewers of Stolen Life.)

This is a very political film, a product of the reaction to the storms of the 1960s. It is a film encouraging elitism, teaching disdain for the people in the basement.