European Premiere | In Competition
Hong Kong, 2024, 111’, Cantonese
Directed by: Oliver Chan
Screenplay: Oliver Chan
Cinematography (color): Sou Wai-kin
Editing: Emily Leung Man-shan
Production Design: Albert Poon Yik-sum
Music: Olivier Cong
Producers: Oliver Chan, Lung Kwok-yiu
Cast: Hedwig Tam (Suk Jing), Lo Chun-yip (Wai), Pang Hang-ying (Wai’s mum), Fung So-bor (Fanny), Tai Bo (Wai’s dad), Patra Au Ga-man (Jing’s mum), Johnny Hui (Jing’s brother)
Date of First Release in Territory: April 24th, 2025
Surviving an ultra-capitalist place like Hong Kong means that working mothers have been common in society for decades. However, many in Hong Kong also still hold traditional gender beliefs, which put the burden of child-rearing on mothers. While people in the middle class can afford to hire live-in domestic workers, women who can’t afford helpers are still expected to both work and be a “good” mother, and there is little societal pressure on men to do their part as fathers. In fact, stay-at-home dads are still almost unheard of.
That is the side of Hong Kong society writer-director Oliver Chan Siu-kuen exposes in
Montages of a Modern Motherhood, the follow-up to her acclaimed directorial debut
Still Human. Partly inspired by her personal experience with motherhood and the stories of other mothers, Chan crafts an uncompromising portrayal of 21st century Hong Kong, where women can become caught between harsh economic realities and even harsher antiquated traditions.
In the case of this film, that woman is Jing (Hedwig Tam), a new mother who is caught between her desire to be a good mother to her newborn and her inability to let go of her old life, specifically her part-time job in a small bakery. Her husband, Wai (Lo Chun-yip), is a “kidult” who thinks his duty as a father is to work his low-paying job as a delivery driver and “help” by playing with the baby once in a while.
In lieu of a traditional narrative, the film focuses almost solely on Jing’s mental and physical deterioration as her burdens accumulate steadily – motherhood’s effect on work, issues with feeding, Wai’s generally dispassionate attitude towards child-rearing, clashing with Wai’s parents, the challenges of finding a decent nanny – until something finally has to give. It’s clear halfway through the film that it will take a miracle for Jing to find any respite from the pressure cooker she is trapped in.
While there is no doubt that Chan sees motherhood as a path fraught with adversity, she leaves a lot of what-ifs for audiences to debate after the film. What if Jing’s husband wasn’t immature and utterly unhelpful? What if Jing’s mother-in-law wasn’t so conservative and meddlesome? What if Jing and Wai’s economic constraints didn’t prevent them from hiring a helper? What if Jing wasn’t so stubborn about wanting to work? Chan doesn’t offer easy answers because her questions about gender roles and parenthood haven’t been resolved for generations.
It seems like Chan piles an awful lot of misfortune onto a single character, but Chan’s depiction of the challenges is so realistic there is no doubt that most people will recognise at least some form of them in real life.
Montages of a Modern Motherhood will evoke more anxiety for parents or expecting parents (including for this stay-at-home-father-to-be) than for most audiences. However, Chan so effectively immerses audiences into Suk Jing’s state of mind that it’s not hard to sympathise with her. Chan doesn’t go for a maudlin approach to the material – calling this a psychological horror film would not be a stretch – but her empathy for mothers is deeply felt even as she sends Jing towards rock bottom. Helped by a revelatory performance by Tam, who courageously lets Jing push her to emotional extremes, Chan has created one of the rawest and most realistic depictions of motherhood ever seen in Hong Kong cinema. Chan may dedicate her film to women who decide to be or not be mothers, but the film should also be essential viewing for fathers and fathers-to-be. For what it’s worth, at least the film urged me to promise my wife that I will try harder as a father.
GUEST:
Oliver CHAN, director
Hedwig TAM, actress
Oliver Chan
Oliver Chan Siu-kuen graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, having majored in global business, and then completed a Master of Fine Arts in Film, Television and Digital Media at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her short film Children was made under the 2015 Fresh Wave programme for emerging filmmakers. In 2018, her directorial debut Still Human won a slew of awards, including Best New Director at the Asian Film Awards and the Hong Kong Film Awards, as well as the Audience Award at the 21st Far East Film Festival. Montages of a Modern Motherhood is her second feature film.
FILMOGRAPHY
2018 – Still Human
2024 – Montages of a Modern Motherhood