Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Vive L'Amour Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 4, 2022

Urban living can be a perilous form of existence, and isolation and emotional inaccessibility are often the norm despite the apparent density of the population in such centers. That underlying tension probably offers the intentional irony for both the vive and the l'amour of this film's title, since not only is there little if any love, at least one character wants to commit suicide, at least initially. The film opens kind of audaciously both with a provocative plot element and a presentational aspect that delivers a semblance of a narrative with only a smattering of frankly inconsequential "dialogue". A salesman named Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng) is seen in an apartment complex where he apparently needs the signature of a resident (this is one element that is probably not very well explained, given what is ultimately revealed about the character and his "career"). Hsaio-kang notices a key just hanging in a lock and after making sure no one is around to spy him stealing it, he simply takes it, later letting himself in and seeming to "set up shop" there, albeit with no apparent accoutrements like luggage (which soon plays into things). The story then segues to a kind of interesting "meet cute" between the two other focal characters of this piece, a real estate agent named May Lin (Yang Kuei- mei) and Ah-jung (Chen Chao-jung), who not so subtly flirt with each other at a coffee shop and afterward and end up hooking up for an ostensible one night stand, not so coincidentally back at the same apartment Hsaio-kang is already in, and where it has been quickly documented that the reason he doesn't have anything with him is because he's planning on killing himself. The sudden sexual activity between May Lin and Ah-jung perhaps somewhat comically gives Hsaio-kang something to live for, and a very strange, almost dissociative, quasi ménage à trois ensues, although probably not in a "traditional" sense, since co-writer and director Tsai Ming-liang obviously wants to emphasize the cold distance between this trio of characters.

Tsai Ming-liang is on hand in a kind of interesting interview included on this disc as a supplemental featuring disclosing that Yang Kuei- mei was brought on very late to this production after another actress backed out at the last minute, and if I'm apprehending a bit of subtext correctly, she wasn't especially thrilled by the fact that Tsai Ming-liang evidently didn't have a finished script on hand and spent a lot of time simply telling her to look sad and tired in various environments. And indeed throughout a film that offers only sporadic situations offering more traditional dialogue elements, May Lin is a kind of "desperate character", forced to eat ramen noodles while discussing million dollar deals, and finding only apparently meaningless sexual encounters as a substitute for something more fulfilling. What's kind of fascinating about the entire premise here is that in a way May Lin is really the only person who rightfully "belongs" in the focal apartment, since she's the one marketing it, and yet it's the eventual interplay between Ah-jung, who returns unannounced after he takes another key to the place, and Hsiao-kang, who continues to hang out there, that provides the more substantial "relationship" in a story that seems positively averse to offering any hint of the milk of human kindness.

And in fact it's scenes like the first "showdown" between Hsaio-kang and Ah-jung that can provide the most "normal" dialogue interactions, though things are often fraught with a kind of really black humor, as evidenced by the fact that both of these guys take umbrage because the other one is there, supposedly "inappropriately". There's also a bit (and maybe more than simply a bit) of subtext involving some sexual identity issues surrounding Hsaio-kang that recur throughout the story, and without getting too graphic, suffice it to say that self gratification is also a repeat plot element.

What's kind of bracing about Vive L'Amour is that it does have a darkly comedic aspect to it even as it documents emotional dysfunction and a seeming inability to form real human connections. Things could almost be taken as a farce in the basic setup here, and it's to the credit of Tsai Ming-liang that there is an actual emotional underpinning to events. The "denouement" may feel like an unresolved question mark, but that perhaps only plays further into an underlying sense of futility and meaninglessness that suffuses the film.

Vive L'Amour Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Vive L'Amour is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement Classics, an imprint of Film Movement, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The press sheet Film Movement sent along with this release touts a 2K restoration, which the insert booklet further clarifies (if only briefly) as having been culled from the original negative. I've gone on record as stating I sometimes find the Blu-ray releases from Film Movement can look too bright, almost as if gamma had been miscalculated, but I'm happy to report that this release looks really good in that regard. Contrast is stable and the palette looks really good most of the time, though there are a couple of slightly strange looking moments, including a couple of scenes that have a definite blue cast to them (the final sequence with May Lin is a notable example). Other relatively brief moments can offer slight downgrades in clarity along with a slightly yellow or maybe yellow-green cast (see screenshot 19), but by and large detail levels are excellent and fine detail on things like fabrics can also be very appealing. I noticed no major damage and no compression issues, and the entire presentation has a really nicely organic quality.

Vive L'Amour Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Vive L'Amour features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original Mandarin, though ascribing a "language" to this film may be slightly misleading in that large swaths of this story play out with relatively few words being spoken. When there is dialogue, it's rendered without any issues whatsoever, and there's also a good accounting of some of the busy urban environments in terms of background clamor and the like. Optional English subtitles are available.

Vive L'Amour Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Tsai Ming-liang Interview (HD; 28:49) is a fun sit down with the writer and director, who happily munches on an orange throughout the proceedings. As mentioned above in the main body of the review, he seems to be hinting at perhaps just the slightest hint of "creative differences" at times, but he also gives some background on what he hoped to achieve with the film. Subtitled in English.


• Vive L'Amour Trailer (HD; 1:33)

Trailers for other releases from Film Movement are also included. As with most Film Movement releases, the disc also offers an About Film Movement option on the Main Menu which leads to text about and a trailer for Film Movement. The nicely appointed booklet contains an interesting essay by Nick Pinkerton.

Vive L'Amour Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A film which ends with one major character weeping uncontrollably may seem like an odd candidate to be termed a "comedy", and yet quite unexpectedly there's a very black thread of humor running through this strange and almost hypnotic film. A mismatched trio of innately unhappy people manage to become sympathetic in their own ways, and the film is really kind of provocative in some of its presentational aspects, which emphasize long takes without a whole bunch of dialogue being spoken. Technical merits are solid, and the interview with Tsai Ming-liang is a lot of fun. Recommended.