The title may be reminiscent of Rana’s Wedding or The
Syrian Bride—two movies that get at politics and ethnography
through the supposedly universal experience of a wedding
ceremony—but the Golden Bear winner Tuya’s Marriage takes
the opposite tack. For Tuya (Yu Nan), the difficulty of eking out a
living in Inner Mongolia is a given; it’s the institution of marriage
that has to be stretched and massaged until it conforms to the
circumstances of her life. Politics hum in the background, in the
forces that are pushing her family away from a nomadic lifestyle and in
a squabble over water rights, but the central conflicts of the plot are
on a human scale.
Tuya is a no-nonsense shepherdess, chasing her flock over chilly
hills on horseback. Ever since her husband, Bater (played by a nonactor
named Bater), was paralyzed while digging a well, she has been the sole
provider for him and their two children. Tuya’s Marriage has the
broad shape of a romantic comedy (until the end), and while Tuya is out
with the flock one day, she stumbles across a drunken friend named
Senge lolling on the ground—a Mongolian take on meet-cute. But
Senge is still in love with his runaway wife, and Tuya is devoted to
Bater. The unique thing about the screenplay (by Wang Quan An and Lu
Wei) is that neither of these commitments really changes. When Tuya
becomes injured and has to find a new husband to support her, we pull
for Senge, since he is willing to allow the discarded Bater, who has no
claim to Tuya’s continued support, to come to live with their new
family.
The arid landscape, seen with a patriotic affection, is a stirring
sight. More wonderful, though, is the story: unusual, understated, and
sincere.
