31/05/2019 - Israeli filmmakers Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia shine a light on the Chinese phenomenon of state-sanctioned pressure on women to marry early

In China, as a result of the one-child policy and sex-selective abortions, there are currently 30 million more men than women, and the government now pressures women into marrying early. The derogatory term for women over 25 who have not yet married is "leftover women", or sheng nu, and this is also the title of the new documentary by Israeli directors-producers Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia, who previously collaborated on Web Junkie. After its world premiere at Tribeca, Leftover Women [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has just screened in the Israeli Competition of Docaviv, where it won two prizes, for Best Director and Best Editing. 

The film follows three such women. Qiu HauMei is a 34-year-old lawyer who does not really seem to be sure she wants to get married at all. She is the first protagonist we get to know, as she is told in a matchmaking agency that she is no beauty and is quite old, so she should not get her hopes up. This scene sets the tone for a film about a society that, deep down, is not really that different in its perception and treatment of women from those in many other parts of the world, but is certainly more brutally direct.

Twenty-eight-year-old radio host Xu Min tries out elaborate online dating, where you can filter potential matches within dozens of categories, and where social status is considered the most important of these. It is judged on education, wealth and origin – Beijing-born, or at least Beijing-based, men (and women) have much better chances of finding "the right one". 

Gai Qi, a 36-year-old professor of film, is the only one who has a boyfriend, marries him, changes job and has a baby, all in one year. Their wedding vows will seem strange to the Western mind, or perhaps this is owing to inadequate translation, but "I only want to create the most civil happiness with you" is probably the least romantic of statements ever uttered on screen. 

To tackle the problem it has created itself, the government organises blind-dating events with hundreds of participants, which are often very humiliating for both sexes, but more so for women. And there is also a literal open market at which parents offer their sons or daughters via cardboard signs similar to ads in papers, describing their children's finer qualities. 

The government does indeed pressure women, but their families do it themselves anyway. Shlam and Medalia follow emotional conversations in the rural home of Qiu HauMei, where her illiterate father says, "Education just makes you stupid," and Xu Min's tearful argument with her overbearing mother.

Qiu HauMei is by far the most interesting and complex of the protagonists, so it is during her segments that the film works best. The fully observational approach has its pros and cons: on one hand, it provides a sober distance, but on the other, it robs the viewer of knowing what the protagonists really think. As alien as the whole culture already is to the Western mind, it gets pretty hard to penetrate beyond the superficialities of the relationships presented on screen. However, Joelle Alexis' editing achieves a certain balance despite the unevenness of the different sequences. The music by Ran Bagnos has various emotional registers, but the melancholy solo piano is definitely overused.

Leftover Women is a co-production by Israeli companies Medalia Productions and Shlam Productions, with participation from Israeli broadcaster Yes, and Germany's ZDF and ARTE. The UK's Met Film Sales has the international rights.