Line #3 Film/SavingFace


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12	''Saving Face'' revolves around the 29 year old Chinese-American surgeon Wilhelmina Pang. Wil's life is shaken up when her mother (Creator/JoanChen) moves in with her and it is also revealed that Wil's mother is pregnant by an unknown father. Wil also gets a new love in her life with another Chinese-American girl Vivian. To complicate things, Wil is trying to keep the [[SecretRelationship relationship secret]]. The question is how can Wil handle and balance these new factors in her life?
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14	This film is a [[QueerRomance lesbian]] RomanticComedy released in 2004. Directed and written by Creator/AliceWu, the work is a lighthearted take on family and relationships as well as how people present themselves to others.
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17	!!''Saving Face'' provides examples of:
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19	* AbsurdlyElderlyMother: Wil's mother finds herself pregnant again despite being forty-eight years old.
20	* ActorAllusion: When Wil's mom browses Chinese films, the first video she comes across is ''Film/TheLastEmperor''.
21	* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Wil shouts her declaration after [[spoiler: Vivian has walked away to board her flight to Paris, but she's too far away to hear her.]]
22	* {{Ballet}}: Vivian is a professional ballet dancer. She prefers modern dance, but is pushed by her [[StageMom father]] to advance in her ballet career.
23	* BilingualDialogue: Around 40% of the film is in Mandarin. Often Wil speaks to her mom in English, who answers her with Mandarin.
24	* CelebrityParadox: Gao (played by Joan Chen) watches ''Film/TheLastEmperor''. Joan Chen also had a role in the film.
25	* ComingOutStory: Wil comes out to her mother. While her mom already [[ParentsWalkInAtTheWorstTime caught her with another woman]] a few years ago, they never acknowledged or discussed it. Her mom isn't happy at first, but later accepts this.
26	* DancesAndBalls: The community frequently gathers for formal dances at Planet China, where parents gossip and try to set their children up with each other.
27	* DisappearedDad: Wil's dad died when she was very young. Her mother raised her alone afterward, and clearly found it hard, though Wil turned out okay.
28	* DisposableFiance: Cho is the Bland Perfection sub-type of this. He's rich, devoted, and left at the altar with absolutely no consequences.
29	* DoggedNiceGuy: Cho has pined for Wil's mom for 15 years. He's willing to accept the baby as his own, no questions asked. But her heart belongs to another.
30	* EasyEvangelism: A mild case. Wil's mom transforms the local Chinatown disapproval on [[MayDecemberRomance her]] and [[QueerRomance Wil's romance]] in about 3 months so much that [[spoiler: Wil and Vivian can kiss in public]] though there still are some people who aren't happy about it and leave.
31	* ForbiddenLove: Wil and Vivian can't be out about having a relationship due to homophobia prevalent in the Flushing Chinese-American community.
32	* FreezeFrameBonus: While Wil's mother is browsing in the video store, she walks past the empty spot for ''Film/TheJoyLuckClub'', another movie about a Chinese-American mother and daughter.
33	* {{Gayngst}}: Wil knows that her traditionalist family won't approve of her sexuality (and [[spoiler: her mother stops talking to her for a time after she comes out]]). That leads to her keep her relationship with Vivian a secret, damaging it in the process.
34	* GossipyHens: Everyone in Flushing (men and women) is seen talking about [[NoodleIncident various scandals]] and potential marriages at the beginning of the film, and about Wil's mother throughout.
35	* HappyEnding: Although it's sort of tacked on, [[spoiler: three months after their breakup Wil and Vivian get back together]].
36	* HomageShot: Wil and her mother sitting at the back of the bus after running from the wedding is a nod to ''Film/TheGraduate''.
37	* LastMinuteHookup: Although it's sort of tacked on, [[spoiler: three months after their breakup Wil and Vivian get back together]].
38	* LawOfInverseFertility: Wil's mother is 48 [[spoiler: and hiding a SecretRelationship]], so [[RuleOfDrama of course]] she has a surprise pregnancy. (Before her family finds out, they even speculate that she's menopausal.)
39	* LikesOlderWomen: [[spoiler: Little Yu has a thing for much older women -- though to be fair, we're discussing [[StacysMom Joan Chen]].]]
40	* LipstickLesbian: Lovers Vivian and Wil both have long hair. Wil likes to wear masculine clothing, but still isn't butch overall. Vivian wears feminine clothes and makeup.
41	* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: There's a montage of all of Wil's mother's failed first dates.
42	* MayDecemberRomance: Though not the way you think. [[spoiler: Even Wil assumes immediately that her mother's boyfriend is Old Yu. It's not. It's Little Yu.]]
43	%%* PrecisionFStrike
44	* QueerRomance: The primary plot has to do with family drama, changing attitudes in the close-knit Chinese-American community of Flushing, NYC, and coping with family pressures with regard to protagonist Wil's [[ForbiddenLove forbidden romance with another Chinese-American woman, Vivian]]. One of the stories deals with Wil trying to conceal her relationship from her mother ... while her mother is living with her.
45	* PracticallyDifferentGenerations: Wil is twenty-nine years old when she finds out her forty-eight-year-old mother Gao is pregnant again.
46	* RaceForYourLove: Wil runs through the airport after Vivian. [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] when the gesture is rejected.
47	* RacistGrandma: Wil's mom displays some typical racism against black people. She purposely uses paper plates for [[TokenBlackFriend Jay]] because she thinks he's dirty, to Wil's frustration. Later warms up to him though.
48	* RunawayBride: [[spoiler: Wil's mom sprints out of her wedding to Cho after Wil interrupts the wedding and Little Yu [[TheReveal confesses to being the father of her child]].]]
49	* SecretRelationship: Wil hides her relationship with Vivian from her family and refuses to engage in PDA. Wil's mother refuses to reveal the father of her child. In the first case it's due to homophobia, the latter as they aren't married.
50	* SmokingHotSex: Vivian smokes in bed after hooking up with Wil.
51	* SoapWithinAShow: Wil's mother watches a lot of soap operas and [[RunningGag repeatedly]] [[ExplainingTheSoap explains what's going on]].
52	* TokenWhite: Wil's coworker Randi is the only white person in the film, which has an almost entirely East Asian cast, along with one black person (Wil's friend Jay).
53	* TomboyishName: Wilhelmina Pang goes by "Wil". She's a bit of a tomboy, and also gay.
54	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailer reveals that Wil's mother is pregnant and also shows climactic moments from late in the movie, including Vivian walking away from Wil in the airport and Wil interrupting her mother's wedding.
55	* WhereDidWeGoWrong:
56	** Wil's grandfather disapproves of his daughter's pregnancy out of wedlock, telling her she's [[IHaveNoSon no longer part of the family]] until she finds a husband to raise her child.
57	** Wil's mother disapproves of her lesbianism, and is in denial about it because she thinks it reflects badly on her parenting (she eventually comes around).

Context Film / SavingFace