My Mother is a Belly Dancer
Encyclopedia
My Mother is a Belly Dancer (師奶唔易做, lit: "It's not easy to be a see lai") is a 2006 Hong Kong film
directed by Lee Kung-Lok. It is part of Andy Lau
's "Focus: First Cut" series, focusing on promising young directors from Asia
. Andy Lau makes a cameo
in the film.
term used in Hong Kong to describe wives, especially housewives
, who are approaching or in their middle age
s. Mrs. Chan (Amy Shum) is a housewife with a grown-up daughter who tends to be domineering of her husband. Mrs. Lee (Sydney Suet Lei), on the other hand, is meek, with a chauvinistic husband (Ken Tong) and a young son who is troubling her with his poor grades. Mrs. Wong (Crystal Tin) is a garbage lady who has to support a family of four daughters. Her doting tailor
husband (Gordon Lam) is out of a job, and the family has to make ends meet nonetheless. Her life is thrown out of order when she is laid off her job.
Mrs Chan and Mrs Lee originally join the belly dancing classes held by foreign teacher Pasha (Pasha Umer Hood) out of curiosity. Pasha replaces their traditional dance teacher and many in the neighborhood are unwilling to learn the dance as they think it indecent. Before long, Mrs Wong and a younger woman, single mother Cherry (Monie Tung), join them. Cherry is a twenty-something gold digger who nonetheless wants to find a father for her baby boy.
The belly dancing classes become the highlight of the lives of these women, as they try to cope with upheavals and stresses in their private lives. Mrs Chan's husband has an affair with a younger girl and she is thinking of divorce
, yet unable to take the definitive step to break with her husband. Mrs Lee's husband objects to her classes and bar her from attending them, especially after her understanding mother-in-law faints after dancing too vigorously during a belly dance gathering. Mrs Wong has to deal with the stress of having no income, even though her husband voices his support for her belly dancing. Cherry intends to end her gold digging ways and settle down with someone who can accept her baby son.
The film ends with each finding solution to her problem: Mrs Chan accepts divorce after support from her grown-up daughter; Mrs Lee reunites with her husband after moving out briefly; Mrs Wong finds a new job, and even Cherry discovers someone who cares enough for her and her baby son.
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
directed by Lee Kung-Lok. It is part of Andy Lau
Andy Lau
Andy Lau MH, JP is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, actor, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time...
's "Focus: First Cut" series, focusing on promising young directors from Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Andy Lau makes a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in the film.
Plot
The film is a portrait of three "see lai", a colloquialColloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
term used in Hong Kong to describe wives, especially housewives
Housewife
Housewife is a term used to describe a married woman with household responsibilities who is not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household...
, who are approaching or in their middle age
Middle age
Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. Various attempts have been made to define this age, which is around the third quarter of the average life span of human beings....
s. Mrs. Chan (Amy Shum) is a housewife with a grown-up daughter who tends to be domineering of her husband. Mrs. Lee (Sydney Suet Lei), on the other hand, is meek, with a chauvinistic husband (Ken Tong) and a young son who is troubling her with his poor grades. Mrs. Wong (Crystal Tin) is a garbage lady who has to support a family of four daughters. Her doting tailor
Tailor
A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...
husband (Gordon Lam) is out of a job, and the family has to make ends meet nonetheless. Her life is thrown out of order when she is laid off her job.
Mrs Chan and Mrs Lee originally join the belly dancing classes held by foreign teacher Pasha (Pasha Umer Hood) out of curiosity. Pasha replaces their traditional dance teacher and many in the neighborhood are unwilling to learn the dance as they think it indecent. Before long, Mrs Wong and a younger woman, single mother Cherry (Monie Tung), join them. Cherry is a twenty-something gold digger who nonetheless wants to find a father for her baby boy.
The belly dancing classes become the highlight of the lives of these women, as they try to cope with upheavals and stresses in their private lives. Mrs Chan's husband has an affair with a younger girl and she is thinking of divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
, yet unable to take the definitive step to break with her husband. Mrs Lee's husband objects to her classes and bar her from attending them, especially after her understanding mother-in-law faints after dancing too vigorously during a belly dance gathering. Mrs Wong has to deal with the stress of having no income, even though her husband voices his support for her belly dancing. Cherry intends to end her gold digging ways and settle down with someone who can accept her baby son.
The film ends with each finding solution to her problem: Mrs Chan accepts divorce after support from her grown-up daughter; Mrs Lee reunites with her husband after moving out briefly; Mrs Wong finds a new job, and even Cherry discovers someone who cares enough for her and her baby son.
Cast and roles
- Cheung Wing-Hong
- Amy Chum - Mrs. Chan (credited as Yan-mei Tam)
- Pasha Umer Hood - Pasha
- Lam Chi-chung - Cameo
- Gordon Lam - Mr. Wong
- Andy LauAndy LauAndy Lau MH, JP is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, actor, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time...
- Cameo - Suet Lei - Mrs. Lee (as Sydney)
- Kristal Tin - Mrs. Wong
- Kent TongKent TongKent Tong Chun-yip also known as Ken Tong, Kenneth Tong Kent Tong Chun-yip also known as Ken Tong, Kenneth Tong Kent Tong Chun-yip also known as Ken Tong, Kenneth Tong (Traditional - 湯鎮業 Simplified - 汤镇业）was born on 29 September 1958 in Hong Kong, China. He was a popular TVB actor during the 1980s...
- Mr. Lee - Monie Tung - Cherry