THE WOMAN OF WRATH (2K RESTORATION)

A seminal film from Taiwan New Wave, adapted from LI Ang’s globally acclaimed novella

The young, fatherless LIN Shih witnesses her mother killing herself with a knife in the ancestral shrine. She is rebuked by elder relatives for selling her body to support her daughter. Orphaned, LIN Shih is then taken in by her uncle. As LIN Shih grows up, she obediently marries a butcher named Chiang-shui, as instructed by her uncle.
It turns out that Chiang-shui treats LIN Shih merely as a tool to satisfy his sexual needs and as a property. The brutality LIN Shih suffers on their wedding night and the bowl of pork rice served afterwards symbolize that LIN Shih’s body and survival rights are controlled by Chiang-shui. The abusive marriage, the gossip circulating in the village, and the childhood memories slowly drive LIN Shih to a nervous breakdown. One day, while Chiang-shui is fast asleep, LIN Shih kills him with the knife he uses to slaughter pigs.

Adapted from The Butcher’s Wife, a United Daily News Literary Prize-winning novella by LI Ang, The Woman of Wrath was released in 1984. The film not only shows LI Ang’s concern for the Taiwanese lower classes but embodies the issues such as sex, hunger, and power dynamics investigated in the novella. The slogan back then conveys how the film was perceived in Taiwanese society in the 1980s – “A controversial and shocking movie”. The story was first published as a serial in the newspaper and won the award before being turned into a book and adapted for the screen. In fact, its daring writing strategy made the work highly anticipated throughout the process. Eventually, the most talented filmmakers at that time, including scriptwriter WU Nien-jen, director TSENG Chuang-hsiang, assistant directors Peggy CHIAO and JIING Yng-Ruey, and director of photography CHANG Chao-tang joined the production. Even before the shooting began, the casting attracted much attention from the media and a lot more after the film was released. As the novella keeps being translated into different languages, academic discussions on the film have continued till now.