The Secret (M+ Screenings: The Film Life of Ann Hui)

The film is based on the shocking double murder of the young doctor Yuen (Alex Man) and his fiancée Li (Angie Chiu) in Lung Fu Shan, Hong Kong. Their neighbour and friend Lin (Silvia Chang) suspects foul play, and her investigations reveal the involvement of Mui (Lee Hye-sook), as well as Li’s pregnancy with Yuen’s child. The film’s narrative makes jumps in time and space, and switches between multiple viewpoints. The Secret is Ann Hui’s first feature film, and the emergence of her distinctive style is already evident here. She conjured the gloomy and time-worn atmosphere of the Western District in a style that came to be known as ‘Pokfield Road aesthetics’.