When those final moments of life come, we relinquish power. The most that we can hope for is to be surrounded by loved ones and hope that our life and death can mean something positive to others. Fang Xiuying has achieved both of these even though she is seen barely moving and does not utter a single word in the award-winning documentary film Mrs. Fang. Vera Tin, who served as cinematographer and production sound for this film, confirms that witnessing, capturing, and sculpting the fragility and pain of the events presented in Mrs. Fang were overpowering; a feeling that resonated with audiences across the planet. In life, there is “what happens” and then there is “what we make it mean”; Mrs. Fang possesses more heartbreaking gravitas than any film you’ve likely ever seen. The manner in which it has been presented is Spartan yet unobvious in its complexity which allows the audience to feel the pain of those who surround Mrs. Fang and the realization that nothing can be achieved except the hopeful comfort of a community of those who care.
Truly important things are rarely easy in life and watching Mrs. Fang is no different. At various screenings of this film, audience members have excused themselves in tears as they were overcome. This documentary film follows the final days of Fang Xiuying, a Chinese woman born in the first half of the twentieth century and succumbing to the Alzheimer’s which decimated her final years. Her last ten days of life are presented in the film as she is cared for and visited by family and neighbors who offer what little aid they can. While the setting is a small bedroom in a southern Chinese village, the reach of this disease makes the message of this documentary universal. Vera confirms this concept as she divulges, “Even as a native Mandarin speaker, I did not understand what was being said in the room because the dialect is native to that village. In a situation such as this, what is relatable and what we connect with is the struggle that both Mrs. Fang and those around her feel. As human beings, we cannot avoid connecting with what they are feeling and share some of their pain.” While this may be true to a great extent, the way in which that emotion is communicated is vital in allowing an audience to access this particular feeling. The manner in which Ms. Tin and her fellow filmmakers have successfully taken care to pull the sensory minimalism to our attention is both subtle and dominating. Every minute aspect results in a torrent of emotion due to the approach of the filmmakers. Quieter solitary moments display the dutiful caretaking of close family members, always with an undertone of sorrow. In such context, every moment has increased meaning as Vera describes that one of the most memorable scenes for her was when Fang Xiuying stretched out her arms to her daughter when her daughter was trying to turn her over on the bed. That was a rare interaction Fang Xiuying had with her daughter, since she could barely move by herself, and she might not even recognize her own daughter. The motion was slow and seemed purposeless but it was also touching and beautiful. Her daughter wasn’t sure what Fang Xiuying wanted but she just held her hands. When that moment happened, Vera slowly followed Fang’s motion, as she stretched her arms into the air, and then to her daughter. Then, following her arms, Vera moved the camera and microphone to her daughter, the face, the holding hands and through the arms, moved back to Fang Xiuying’s face. Following the motion, Vera was also able to capture the sound of skin rustling and holding hands, a little detailed sound that might normally get ignored but it became so important, priceless, and incredibly moving at this moment.
Far more than most films, the extraordinary sounds of Mrs. Fang are what elicit emotions from the viewer. To understand that these auditory occurrences will impact others, one must first deeply understand the world beyond our eyes. Vera’s creative use of a unidirectional microphone to brilliantly capture the most unobvious of noises, such as Mrs. Fang’s quiet breath or jaw bone moving, is key to bringing the fragility of these moments to the film. This also enables a “focus” on visitors who had quiet discussions at her bedside. Scenes in which the sonic environment is of a mostly empty echoing room with the television on or a random voice here and there, these moments drive home the emptiness; a tone which does not appear on film unless someone as remarkably skilled as Vera is aware and attentive to every aspect. Concerning her excellent concept of capturing this single room which was Mrs. Fang’s entire world at the time, Vera Tin states that sound in this film is overall naturalistic and realistic, as it is the nature of documentary to reflect reality. By placing the microphone in different corners of the room, Vera skillfully captured the sound waves bouncing from the walls, which belonged uniquely to that time and space, and the people. Her work with sound was doing selections of what and how to document. From the loud discussions of the relatives and neighbors, to some quiet time with rain in the background, or sometimes, just dead silence. Each of those sounds Vera captured reflected some truth of the moments, and moment by moment, they connected and became the sonic aspect of the world that Fang spent her last few days in.
Mrs. Fang made history following it’s 2017 release when it became the first documentary film ever to win the Golden Leopard Award at Locarno Film Festival. In Germany, France, and the United States, the film has been heralded for its graceful, honorable, and honest presentation of a woman’s passing as a result of this horrendous disease. In the creation of Mrs. Fang, the filmmakers have honored her memory and allowed Xiuying herself to touch the lives of so many people, among them the film team themselves. Vera Tin agrees, “My own grandmother passed away from Alzheimer’s. Being able to work on this film made me feel like I was making up for my regrets. Because I had a family member who suffered from Alzheimer’s and died, it was also meaningful for me to work on a film on the subject matter of the disease and death. The topic of this film is heavy and heart-breaking, but it’s also a very important part of our lives and I believe it’s important to tell a story like Mrs. Fang.”
Following the release of Mrs. Fang, Vera Tin has continued to work as a sound professional, having participated in numerous projects as sound designer and sound mixer. She is looking forward to working for a variety of films which offer her the chance to tell meaningful stories through sound.
Writer: Coleman Haan