Chinese Version

Intimates (Hong Kong)

Complicated biosexual love

Director: Jacob C.L. Cheung

Cast: Carina Liu  Charlie Young  Gua Ah-leh  Theresa Lee

Footage: 158min

Year: 1997 

In 1990s San Francisco, designer Hui has friction with her boyfriend Hua. Hui moves her father's former servant into her apartment, later taking her to China to reside at a Guangzhou retirement home.

During the trip, the older woman experiences flashbacks to the '30s and '40s. These flashbacks follow the young Yi Huan, who ignores her parents' wishes and joins the Comb Women sisterhood (meaning they chose chastity over marriage). Yi Huan is working at a spinning factory when she's seen by Yu Huan, wife number eight of a silk-merchant. Yu Huan hires Yi Huan as a maid and becomes jealous when Yi Huan is attracted to her fisherman lover. The women finally become a couple after  Yi Huan is rejected by her lover.

The story continues to dissolve back and forth between past and present.

References:

Intimates