The Generation i.e. children’s section of the Berlinale is so worthwhile because they are only 4 euros (and 2 euros when you have a student ID or something else that gives you half price). Last Berlinale, we also saw a Generation film (Mary and Max) and it was so great that I saw the film again at some point. This year, it seems that we are also following the tradition of seeing one marvelous Generation film.
Einstein and Einstein
China 2013, Cao Baoping, 119’
Li Wan (her given name is the sign for “play”) is a rather introspective girl who talks about parallel universes and astrophysics all day. She even draws her life philosophy out of this theory – if a parallel universe exists in which we do the opposite thing of what we did, then there is no reason to regret any decision we have made. She lives with her grandparents because her father re-married and essentially cannot be bothered with raising her. Her entire family even hides from her that her stepmother gave birth to a little brother. When her father gives her a puppy to appease her, she responds angrily at this display of bought love. Over time, she gets close to the dog and names him Einstein. Then Einstein disappears, and that event reveals Wan’s frustration of being neglected by her family.
Death count: 1 dog.
“Einstein and Einstein” is a brilliant tale of abuse. Everything depicted in the film is true, and almost everything they do in that family looks exactly the same in mine (with the difference that Li Wan’s family is horribly low class). The most poignant scene was the one with the father’s boss, who is spouting the biggest nonsense in the world and calls Hawking’s books “child’s play”, but because he is the boss, everybody just sits there and nods or even praise his utterings. These nonsensical, seemingly wise but actually empty aphorisms are the pinnacle of the depravity of Chinese culture, and I heard them throughout my childhood over and over again.
Just for its incredible realism, “Einstein and Einstein” deserves more attention than it gets. Even the topic itself – gender roles in China – is an unusual one and its problem manifest themselves only subtly, as it is shown in this film. The only thing I did not quite like about the film was the way it ended. All of a sudden, Wan is depicted as this genius kid who is able to win province-wide competitions. The “main character is a genius” trope kind of ruined the story of Wan as one which could have happened to any girl in China. The truth is that most girls in China experience something like that, but not everyone is able to get out of it like Wan did at the end of the film.
It may be of interest to note that I have never experienced any sort of neglect, or been subjected to your average girl’s upbringing. But my parents made a point saying that they raised me “like a boy”, as if only boys deserve to be the center of attention and are allowed to seek self-fulfillment and speak out their minds.
The director of “The equation of love and death” made another great film, and I will certainly continue to monitor what he does.
I didn’t mind the “main character turns genius” trope so much, but maybe also because I couldn’t connect the film so easily with Chinese society like you do. I liked the irony of how Wan gets better, more honest and more wise than her father in so many ways – I found the scene where she wants her father to bring her to the animal shelter, where he put the first Einstein, right after her big success was one of the strongest. In retrospect, I would probably give the film a 2 too.