Story
In the winter of 1948, Beijing, a renowned writer (Jiang Wen) receives a letter from an unknown woman on his birthday. As he reads the letter, a female voiceover begins to recount a relationship he has forgotten. The woman, a Miss Jiang, tells of her first infatuation with the writer when she was in her early teens, when she was his neighbour at a siheyuan. When she moved back to Beijing years later as a student at the Peking Women's College, she had a brief liaison with him, after which she became pregnant. Days later, the writer had completely forgotten about her.
She gave birth to their son in Sichuan, during the war-torn years of the Second Sino-Japanese war. When she moved back to Beijing eight years later, after the war, she became a dance hostess to support her son. Although the two met again, the writer could not recognize her. They had one last liaison again. Though finding her familiar, the writer failed to pin down her identity. On the day after their son dies, she decides to write this letter to let him know of their existence.
Read more about this topic: Letter From An Unknown Woman (2004 Film)
Famous quotes containing the word story:
“A good story is one that isn’t demanding, that proceeds from A to B, and above all doesn’t remind us of the bad times, the cardboard patches we used to wear in our shoes, the failed farms, the way people you love just up and die. It tells us instead that hard work and perseverance can overcome all obstacles; it tells lie after lie, and the happy ending is the happiest lie of all.”
—Kathleen Norris (b. 1947)
“That’s the whole story of my life: frustration. It’s a chronic disease, and it’s incurable.”
—Robert E. Sherwood (1896–1955)
“How else is the famous short story ‘A study in Abjection’ to be understood but as an outbreak of disgust against an age indecently undermined by psychology.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)