Film Name: 男与女 / Hong Kong, Hong Kong / 男與女
The title sounds like a romance, but in reality, it’s an elegy for mainlanders drifting south.
The female lead, Meng Sicheng, pursues freedom and self-discovery, planning to seek refuge with relatives in Hong Kong (though the specific background should be clarified here). Upon arriving, she finds herself trapped in a life of hardship, ultimately forced to band together with others for survival—men providing food and shelter, women offering their bodies.
For the protagonist, marrying Uncle Gui is a purely transactional arrangement. It grants her better living conditions and, after giving birth to his child, automatic Hong Kong residency status. She accepts this reality without hesitation. Thus, when she encounters Jiang Yuansheng for the third time, she is already living with Uncle Gui. Yet her intimate moments with Jiang Yuansheng show no trace of awkwardness or guilt—they occur openly, portrayed as entirely natural. This can be understood as her relationship with Uncle Gui being for survival, while her connection with Jiang Yuansheng is for love.
The film features several erotic scenes, but the most unforgettable is the first night between Uncle Gui and Meng Sicheng. On one hand, Guan Haishan has always been an old man in my memory, while Zhong Chuhong has always been a young, graceful lady, creating a strong sense of contrast. The intimacy scenes between them are rich in detail—kissing, lovemaking—especially the climax where Meng Sicheng takes the initiative. This could be interpreted as her passion ignited by a better life, a form of repayment to Uncle Gui, or simply her embracing existence. Throughout her previous erotic scenes, her performance had been one of numbness and endurance.
As an elegy for southern migrants, the film not only portrays the relentless hardships of displaced lives throughout but culminates in a devastating twist: the British Queen declares that even bearing a child cannot grant an undocumented migrant household registration. When Meng Sicheng believes she can finally go to America with Jiang Yuansheng, her excitement leads to a hasty fall down the stairs, resulting in a miscarriage. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuansheng’s competition results are annulled due to doping, making their American dream utterly unattainable.
The film concludes with the couple lying in a dark park. Though the world is vast, finding a place for them is impossible. Survival is hard enough—what hope is there for the future?
This scene brought to mind three other films: One Nite in Mongkok, The Roar of the Vietnamese, and Lost Souls—all elegies about illegal immigration to Hong Kong.
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