Director: Alice Wu
Screenplay: Alice Wu
Starring: Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, Lynn Chen, Jin Wang, Guang Lan Koh, Jessica Hecht, Ato Essandoh, David Shih, Brian Yang, Nathaniel Geng, Mao Zhao
Country: United States
Running Time: 97 min
Year: 2004
BBFC Certificate: 15
Director Alice Wu’s story of becoming a director is an interesting one in its own right. Wu was bored of her software job in the 1990s, impulsively enrolled on a weekend writing course and began drafting a queer love story that she would return to and refine over time, which would ultimately become her debut feature.
That film was 2004’s Saving Face, the draft for which she continued to hone during a university screenwriting extension course before moving to Brooklyn, New York, and setting herself a five-year deadline for her story to reach the big screen, which it eventually would.
Set in New York City, Saving Face follows Wilhelmina, known as Wil (Michelle Krusiec), a young surgeon who falls in love with flirtatious dancer, Vivian (Lynn Chen). Wil’s life is tuned upside down when her more traditionally-minded Chinese mother (Joan Chen), referred to as Ma, turns up on her doorstep to move in with her. Ma is unwed and unexpectedly pregnant.
The film follows the story of mother and daughter as their unexpected coming together leads to them confront their troubled relationship, which has been hampered by their differing views on life and challenges in truly communicating with each other, leaving some key elements unsaid.
At its heart, Wu’s film is a very funny and touching romantic comedy that seemingly plays with the conventions of the rom-com, whilst also bringing a new voice, for the time, to the genre.
Thematically, whilst the film is often a light rom-com, we do get some perceptive elements, covering everything from coming to terms with one’s sexuality, the societal and cultural barriers between generations, the concept of saving face, the perception of becoming pregnant at an older age, and the pressures parents put on their children to confirm to a societal ‘norm’ and fit into a box.
There are some marvellous performances which aid the humour and more dramatic moments no end. Chen as Ma is a particular delight, from the moment she turns up on her daughter’s doorstep, possessions in hand, to move in, to her belligerently turning up music and refusing to speak to Wil when she is meditating.
Chen also plays Ma’s more poignant moments pitch perfectly, like when her father lambasts her for becoming pregnant. Her reactions to watching pornography she’s rented from a video store are also a treat, and look out for a montage sequence of Ma on awful dates.
Speaking of Ma’s father, I enjoyed each of the scenes in which he and his wife appear. The pair are played by Jin Wang as Grandfather and Guang Lan Koh as Grandmother. From their facial reactions at a gathering of family and friends, which tell you exactly what they’re thinking, to other moments throughout the film that move from dramatic to comedic and finally to poignancy, they’re a joy to watch. The scene when it’s announced that Ma is pregnant is also a highlight; the gossip spreading fast and character reactions bringing a smile.
The film is anchored by Krusiec’s central performance. She effortlessly portrays Wil, and moves from up-and-coming surgeon to her relationship with her mother to her romance with Vivian with ease. She wasn’t a native Mandarin speaker, so responds to her on-screen mother’s Mandarin in English for the most part.
The romance between Wil and Vivian feels real, and it’s a delight to see their love blossom throughout the film. The pair are both excellent. There are some tender moments between the burgeoning couple and a hilarious sex scene where Vivian’s mum phones and her call clicks into the answer phone for the couple to hear what she has to say whilst they are in the throes of passion. Ato Essandoh, as Wil’s neighbour Jay, is also a delight in his brief appearances. He has appeared in the Netflix series The Diplomat in 2023, amongst other film and TV roles.
As the film progressed, I also found Wil’s interactions with her Ma to become more touching, with almost role reversals of the daughter reassuring the mum, who doesn’t think she’ll be a good mother. There’s also an excellent scene when Wil, who keeps her romance with Vivian a secret from her mother for much of the film, finally invites Vivian round for dinner. I’m often a fan of dinner sequences where secrets or key plot points are revealed. This one is a very good scene, though it playfully subverted my expectations by not confronting the truths.
We do, unsurprisingly, though eventually, get the inevitable revealing of the secrets, with Wil confessing she is gay to her mother, who reacts badly. The title of the film refers to the concept of saving face, in this case where family members are expected to perform a specific role to maintain the family’s reputation, and this plays out quite a bit in the final act.
The scene where Wil confides in her mother is juxtaposed with a particularly poignant scene where Grandmother passes away. The emotions flow, Ma accepts a marriage proposal from one of her suitors, but Wil turns up at the wedding to help her mother realise he’s not the one, and the wedding is called off. Wil rushes to the airport to catch Vivian before she boards her flight to Paris, and is challenged to publicly kiss her and show her love, which she ultimately can’t bring herself to do.
But that’s not all, and this being a rom-com you may see where it’s going. The ending has been described as being a bit twee and contrived in the way it ties up all the loose ends in a feel-good way. I personally didn’t mind that. By their nature, rom-coms tend to have happy endings, and why not. Whilst the film does rush through key developments in the last act, it’s earned the final moments it provides. It left with me with a huge smile on my face, and not just because Chen’s Ma has the perfect last line.
Saving Face is quite a beautiful film, visually, thanks to two elements. Firstly, the cinematography by director of photography Harlan Bosmajian captures some striking sunrises and nighttime shots; and secondly, the production design, particularly for Wil’s apartment, which creates a colourful, warm and lived-in environment. The music score by Anton Sanko is quite whimsical and very hummable, fitting a romantic comedy well.
Finally, there’s a wonderfully meta moment when Joan Chen’s Ma is in a video shop, which is where she picks up that aforementioned pornography. As she peruses the shelves, one of the video titles that is fleetingly glimpsed is the epic biopic The Last Emperor, which Chen starred in for director Bernardo Bertolucci and which brought her to the attention of American audiences 17 years before Saving Face.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed Saving Face and found it to be a very warm, funny and at times perceptive romantic comedy, which has plenty to say about cultural and societal differences between generations. It was a fabulous debut for director Alice Wu, who would not, sadly, make another film until her second, and so far latest, movie 2020’s The Half of It.
Film: 
Saving Face is released on Blu-ray by the Criterion Collection on Monday 1st September 2025. The high-definition digital master is good and solid overall, with natural grain, plenty of detail and colours popping. The audio is also great with everything coming through clearly; particularly, and most importantly, the dialogue.
Director-approved Blu-ray Special Edition:
High-definition digital master, approved by director Alice Wu, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
Audio commentary featuring Wu
New interviews with Wu and actor Joan Chen
Deleted scenes with optional commentary by Wu
Behind-the-scenes featurette
Program featuring Wu and members of the cast at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic Phoebe Chen
The audio commentary featuring Wu is from 2005. Wu is in fine form, providing plenty of background about the NYC locations and what they mean to her in real-life, and covers the themes, music, actors, some of the scenes, and much more. There are some silences, but when Wu talks, there’s plenty to glean and she delivers her thoughts in an easy-to-listen-to way.
Criterion provide two new interviews for this release. The first is with Wu and runs for 25 minutes. The film’s director explains her inspirations, how she accepted her sexuality and being gay, and how she got into film writing and eventually making Saving Face right through to its release. It’s a very candid and honest interview with Wu revealing a lot about her life and upbringing as well as about the film. It’s fantastic and my favourite extra on the disc.
The other new interview is with Chen and runs for 17 minutes. Chen explains why she took on the role of Ma, talks about her earliest roles, how she got into acting and her first big feature film, as well as talking about the huge success of The Last Emperor, what followed, and, of course, Saving Face. It’s a really good interview, and would have been great if it had been a bit longer. After Wu’s new interview, this is my other favourite extra.
Five deleted scenes are included, totalling four minutes, each available with optional commentary by Wu. They’re all, as you can probably tell from the runtime, quite brief, but there are some nice moments featuring some of the more peripheral characters, as well as a chance to see more of Chen’s Ma. The highlight is more members of the community gossiping about Ma’s pregnancy, which was one of my favourite sequences in the finished film.
The archival behind-the-scenes featurette runs for nine minutes. It’s a typically short featurette to sell the film, with lots of back-slapping and footage from the shoot. There are a few interesting interview moments, but nothing to glean that hasn’t been revealed elsewhere.
The piece from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival features Wu and members of the cast at the festival, including a screening of the film, and runs for 12 minutes. There’s some neat footage and Wu provides an interview which is almost like a commentary of the footage. A very welcome inclusion which provides a sense of the release and reaction to the film.
Completing the package is a two-minute trailer.
I wasn’t provided with the essay to review, but assume it’s the one from Phoebe Chen available on the Criterion Collection website at https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8905-saving-face-daughters-in-love. If it is this article, it’s a wonderful one, with Chen giving plenty of background to the film and its themes, as well as its importance in her life. It’s well worth a read.
In closing, Criterion have provided a great package for the very funny, touching, perceptive and entertaining romantic comedy, Saving Face. Extras are headlined by two excellent new interviews with director Wu and one of the stars, Chen. The disc also features an informative 2005 commentary with Wu and some other archival features.
Disc/Package: [4/5]