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The Arch (T’ang Shushuen, 1968)

One of the highlights of this year’s Cannes Classics program—frankly, of this year’s Cannes—was T’ang Shushuen’s 1968 historical drama The Arch, newly restored by the Hong Kong museum M+ and presented in person by the 87-year-old filmmaker herself. This week and next, it plays in the New York Film Festival’s Revivals section, where American audiences will have the chance to see this remarkable work on the big screen.

Based on a Ming Dynasty–set short story by the Chinese American writer Lin Yutang, the film centers on Madam Tung (Lisa Lu), a middle-aged widow and schoolteacher awaiting the delivery of a letter certifying the construction of a ceremonial arch in tribute to her exceptional character and community service—a traditional honor bestowed by the emperor himself. In T’ang’s telling, Madam Tung lives with her teenage daughter, Wei-Ling (Hilda Chou Hsuan), as well as her aging mother-in-law (Wen Hsiu). When their home and schoolhouse is garrisoned by a soldier whose chemistry with both mother and daughter complicates household dynamics, a fateful gesture of selflessness by Madam Tung causes her inner life to unravel.

The film originally premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and, according to T’ang and the team behind the restoration, it was subsequently part of the very first Director’s Fortnight at Cannes in 1969—though that information remains missing from the festival’s website. T’ang’s debut feature, The Arch was made in Hong Kong after she graduated from the University of Southern California; she went on to make three more features in Hong Kong before a career shift to the culinary business led her back to L.A., where she still runs the restaurant Joss Cuisine on Santa Monica Blvd.

What was the atmosphere like at USC when you were a student there in the ’60s? 

It was very rudimentary. Almost like a little hut, you know? The classes were attended by very few people—there were freshmen and Ph.D. [candidates] all together, seeing the same film. It was a very free atmosphere. After that, I went to the Columbia Film Industry Workshop at the Columbia [Pictures] studio. You got the atmosphere of really making films [there]. You had to be a Hollywood person, a union person. I was a union person because I wrote a little television script that they liked, and they had to get me into the Writers Guild.

When did you conceive of The Arch, and how did that project begin to come to life?

Probably a couple years after school. I liked literature before going to film school. But I think with film it’s easier to reach an audience than [with] language, writing. And then to study Chinese literature in America doesn’t make sense [laughs], and to write in English is not that easy for a foreigner, you know? But film is an international medium. It is visual.

In fact, I showed the script to my professor at USC and he said to me, “Oh, no, you cannot do this. It’s not a film script, because everybody’s feeling is internal.” But I don’t know why he said that. To me, that is why you use the medium of film, because of what you cannot do with another medium.

How did you assemble this amazing cast and crew? You have two really notable collaborators in Les Blank, who co-edited the film, and Subrata Mitra, who shot the interiors.

Well, Les Blank went to USC, so I knew him from school. And Subrata, because I am a great admirer of Satyajit Ray’s films—I loved the visual style. I asked some friends, who connected me [to him].

The Arch has a beautiful and unexpected narrative arc. It starts off as a film about a soldier garrisoned with Madam Tung, her mother-in-law, and her daughter. By the end you discover it’s really about Madam Tung’s deep solitude and compulsion for self-sacrifice. Where did the story come from?

It’s based on a short story by a very famous writer [Lin Yutang]. But all the details are my addition. The [original] story is more about a widow receiving the honor of an arch. I don’t think the story has a daughter or a mother-in-law.

How did you assemble the cast? Among others, you had Roy Chiao Hung playing the captain, who would later become well-known for his work in King Hu’s movies.

Actually, I had no ability to cast [the ensemble characters], because I was so unknown. When I succeeded in booking a film studio [Cathay Organization]—which wasn’t easy either, as nobody wanted to rent to somebody who didn’t know a thing about film—part of the terms were, “You rent the studio, you use our available actors.”

But it’s like [being] a painter. You imagine you’re going to use #213 Red and you get #200 Red. That is a new exploration. It is another challenge, another creative impulse. I didn’t mind that at all.

What do you remember about the film landscape in Hong Kong at the time? This was before the Hong Kong New Wave really broke out. 

I am a very simple-minded person. I wasn’t thinking about all that. [It was more like], “Oh, I have this project I want to do,” and I go, without researching the industry. And then I pick up the phone, I call [the studios], you know: “Ah, I want to make this film. Can I?” And they just thought I was crazy, you know? This stupid girl who didn’t know anything.

But I had a friend [named Jeanette Lin Tsui], who was the classmate of my sister. She became a very famous movie star in Hong Kong and married a powerful young director whose name was [Jimmy Wang Yu]. Everybody called him “Kid” . . . I gave them my script, and they submitted it to everybody who would listen to them. So then [people said], “Oh, maybe she’s for real.”

In order to express the internal states of the characters, particularly that of Madam Tung, you use some extraordinary and rather experimental techniques. Were you exposed to the burgeoning avant-garde scene in the Bay Area during your time in California?

Well, I was exposed to film media. That’s exactly what film media is capable of doing, and what any other media [is not]. And at the time, in America, it’s the Flower Generation; in China, it’s the Cultural Revolution. So it was very open. You experiment. My film happened to be born at that time, and I was influenced by that.

What was the reception like when the film premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival?

Well, the Mayor of San Francisco announced that The Arch and the Beatles film Yellow Submarine (1968) saved the festival. So it was not a bad reception.

Can you talk a little bit about the films you made afterward?

China Behind (1974) is my second film, [made a few] years later. It’s about the Cultural Revolution and has a very documentary style. I used a newsreel cameraman [Chang Chao-tang] to shoot that film.

Of course, China wouldn’t let me shoot it. So I went to Taiwan. I am sorry to say I had to lie; I told them it was an anti-communist film [laughs]. In Taiwan, I called the film Freedom Swimmers. So they gave me a lot of assistance—if I needed soldiers, they provided them.

[The next two films] were made because, you know how I was talking to you about the movie star and the husband? They asked me to do a film for them. And I [felt] obligated because they helped me. So, not [films] I wanted to make.

And how did you then become a restaurateur? 

Because my mother was ill. I had to stay in Los Angeles. So my siblings said, “Well, why don’t you open a restaurant, so you don’t have to sit by her bedside every minute?” And, you know, it’s easy for a filmmaker to do anything [laughs]. So I opened a restaurant.

Are there any films you’d still like to make?

Physically, I’m in no condition to make a film, but I’m constantly making films up here [points to head].

What’s the film in your head right now?

It’s about Li Qingzhao, a very famous poetess in the Song dynasty. She experienced the turn of the dynasty, that period. Her life could be as commercial as Gone With the Wind (1939), if you make it like that. [Just] as Scarlett O’Hara was a very talented young Southern lady, [Li] was a very delicate young Chinese lady, and extremely talented. And her love story… Then suddenly her life changed, because the political situation changed. And like, suddenly you see a very strong woman, you know?

I’ve already written it in my head. But I was just asking, who can direct it? [laughs] Who can direct it?

Inney Prakash is a film curator and critic based in New York City.