Type
Genre: Drama, Family, Ethics
Duration: 124 minutes
Synopsis: Taiwan in the 1990s, the story of Chef Chu and his three daughters, the chef of the Yuanshan Hotel.
Story
beginning
Act 1
Zhu family's first dinner
From father to daughter (in order of age), they appear in sequence to introduce the identity and background of the father and the three daughters.
Switch back and forth and introduce the occupations, personalities and respective living conditions of the four main characters in parallel.
From the dialogue between the three daughters and other characters, the effective information is brought out: there is a fixed dinner with the father that cannot be absent every Sunday. In addition, my father has been cooking at home to prepare for this dinner. At the beginning of the film, he received a mysterious phone call. He did not explain the identity of the other party, but set up suspense with a few very simple dialogues, paving the way for the ending. Lightweight and unintentional.
The four key characters did not appear in a scene at the same time at the beginning, but kept them in a state of separation, and the first event in the script was to bring the father and three daughters together. Introducing the characters in the four scenes separately and independently can also clearly see the different characteristics of the four characters. This kind of setting brings a little expectation to the audience, and it also gives the audience a little imagination space to guess the relationship between the family of four and the position of each character, which is more important and which is more important.
In the three daughters' split scenes, a corresponding male character was brought out at the same time, and the main clues of the daughters' emotional lines were also explained in the opening scene. The veins are clear and spread out little by little.
It explained the estranged relationship between the single father and the three daughters, and the way the four people get along. The eldest is a devout Christian and is slightly cynical; the second is a company executive, a professional woman, with the strongest temperament and the most likely to conflict with his father. He has the most lines in act 1, highlighting the status of key figures; the third is still young and still Working in a restaurant, she has a cheerful and simple personality.
In the first event at the beginning, during the Sunday dinner, my father's cooking skills were also criticized by the second child, who thought that his father's sense of taste was degraded. Then the second child announced at the dinner table that he was going to move out and live. In the character's subtle lines, he made a start, moving out to live in Zhu's house is a major event. At this time, the script did not let every character give a detailed and complete response. Instead, after that, a phone in the hotel was set up to call out the most important Lao Zhu, and let the first incident of the story be told. The reaction settles down, and all the reactions and subsequent events are placed in the back story. Completed ACT 1. At the dinner table, my father left the dinner after receiving the call. He adjusted the slightly nervous opening of the dinner, made a breathing adjustment, clarified the basic relationship between the characters, and smoothly led to the next scene.
Act II
Lao Zhu after the first dinner
From the individual analysis of the four characters, to the intersection of the same scene. A small contradiction was created, which changed the original stable order formed by the four people in the family. At this time, the story feels like a prelude, and there is no rush to describe the intensity of the event that disrupted the order, nor to describe the new order. Instead, the four characters are again divided into two angles, respectively, from the positions of the father and daughter (three) characters, to describe the follow-up reactions to this stimulating event. The lines are daily, concise and not intense, which also establishes that the narrative rhythm of this script is of a smooth and progressive type.
Lao Zhu returned to the restaurant where he worked. As the chef of the restaurant, he encountered a situation during the banquet, so he immediately went back to the rescue after receiving the call. In this scene, from the dialogue and the way the cooks treat Lao Zhu, it shows that Lao Zhu is a highly respected chef at work, with dignity, popularity, and courage in doing things. It is a stark contrast to getting along with the daughters at home. He is a father who is waiting for his daughter to come home. The daughters are also accustomed to their father's cooking, and their taste and cooking skills have gradually become worse than before.
From the portrayal of these two key opening scenes, Lao Zhu's personal characteristics are deepened.
Act Three
Conversation of the daughters after the first meal
The decision of the second child to move out of the house caused a conversation among the three sisters. In the lines, the boss is the opponent, the third is the understanding party, and the second is guilty. Under the peaceful dinner, the hearts of the three characters fluctuated, and the smooth order of their three story lines was also a trigger point. All four lines began to fluctuate because of this incident.
Act Four
The emergence of a new key figure, Jin Rong.
Explain the friendship between Jinfeng and the Zhu family, and supplement the existing character structure. The characters of the story are gradually enriched. So far, there have been no strong conflicts and contradictions. The newly added character relationship can give the audience a sense of not being monotonous, and also help better digestion.
Foreshadowing from the lines, the boss and Jin Rong have different views on the second half of Lao Zhu's life. Let the audience mistakenly think that Jin Rong's position is the foreshadowing of the reversal of the ending.
Act 5
The emotional lines of each of the five characters.
The respective scenes of the four characters further describe the mood swings after the dinner last night. Gradually, the characteristics and characters of the four people have become three-dimensional and layered. The four people's emotional line clues are induced. Especially the interaction between Lao Zhu and Jinrong's daughter Shanshan, instead of directly arranging for Lao Zhu and Jinrong to communicate, quietly paving the way for the plot reversal. A surprise that provides evidence without spoiling the outcome.
1. Lao Zhu gave a bento to Jinrong's daughter Shanshan.
2. The first interaction between the old family Jane and the school's new physical education teacher Zhou Mingdao.
3. The youngest Jia Ning and his friend's boyfriend Guo Lun discuss their views on love.
4. The first meeting between the second child Jiazhen and the company's new executive Li Kai, and getting along with her ex-boyfriend.
developing
Act VI
After the audience digests the characters' relationships, a new Inciting Incident emerges.
Jia Qian went from proposing to move out of the house to live in the face of being dispatched to work abroad.
Act Seven
Lao Wen is admitted to the hospital, and Jia Qian visits the hospital.
The conversation between the three brought out the relationship between Lao Zhu and Jia Qian's father and daughter. Bringing out the attitude of the two to the catering work, in the early years, Lao Zhu did not let Jia Qian work as a chef, which led to a knot between father and daughter.
Act Eight
Jin Rong's mother returned home. New characters appear, and character relationships are spread out.
Act Nine
Jia Qian and her new colleague Li Kai further communicated, and the relationship became familiar.
Act Ten
Jiazhen receives the love letter, thinking it was written by the PE teacher.
Act Eleven
Jia Ning fell in love with his friend's boyfriend, and their relationship changed.
Act XII
Jia Qian learns that the house she bought has become an unfinished building.
Act Thirteen
Jiaqian visits Lao Wen at the hospital and accidentally sees Lao Zhu in the cardiology department.
Act Fourteen
The Zhu family's second dinner together.
Jiaqian's real estate investment fails, and Jin Rong and Liang's mother visit after dinner. The first meeting between Lao Zhu and Liang's mother. The character setting of Liang's mother does not speak standard Mandarin. She looks like an intruder in this family, which seems out of place. There is a world of difference from other character settings, Liang's mother's speech is not hidden directly, and it is aggressive. It is the promoter of the whole story, and actively stirs the relationship between the characters.
Act fifteen
Jiazhen received an anonymous love letter again, met Zhou Mingdao on the faculty union KTV, and sang lyrics that happened to be the words in the love letter. Emotional drama heats up.
Act XVI
The interaction between Lao Zhu and Jinrong's daughter Shanshan is the way of communication between two generations, the elders obey the younger generation. The closeness of the two has changed from the initial alienation to the "presumptuous" of the children.
Lao Zhu was eating the bento made by Jinrong for Shanshan, his face was expressionless, this detail also reminded the audience once again that Lao Zhu had lost his sense of taste.
Act XVII
Jiaqian and Li Kai talked about work in the office, and they became friends from colleagues. Accompany Li Kai to the Toy City to pick a gift for his son.
The lines of the two men explained the influence of cross-border cultural differences on the generation of Taiwan living in and out of international life at that time. It echoes the fact that Liang's mother did not adapt to life abroad and moved back to Taiwan. Generations of people have been influenced by international culture, resulting in various cultural conflicts. From the resistance mentality of the older generation of Liang's mother, to the acceptance of Li Kai's generation, it has been extended to the complete Westernization of Li Kai's son's generation.
Act Eighteen
The dialogue between Lao Zhu and Jinrong at the intersection gradually gave a little more clues. The relationship between Lao Zhu and Jinrong is not simple.
The complexity of character relationships deepens.
Act Nineteen
Jia Ning's best friend discovers the relationship between her boyfriend and Jia Ning, and the friendship between them collapses.
Jia Ning's emotional line has reached a turning point, and the character function of Jia Ning's best friend has ended, and he has withdrawn from the story.
Act 20
The Zhu family's third dinner together.
Jia Ning announced that she was pregnant and was about to move out to live with her boyfriend. A new Inciting Incident appears. Among the three daughter characters, Jia Ning, who is the least important, is the first to leave home. This family structure, starting from the smallest piece, falls off into a long process of disintegration.
After the third dinner, Jia Ning's boyfriend, Gu Lun, came to pick up Jia Ning. This was the first time Gu Lun saw everyone in the Zhu family. At this time, the script was still advancing at a steady pace. The father and two sisters did not react dramatically, but calmly accepted Jia Ning's departure. After Jianing left, the three of them reacted to Jianing's departure on their respective lines of relationship.
Act 21
Lao Zhu fell into deep thought in the bathroom.
The scene of Lao Zhu getting massage in the bathhouse is the rhythm point of the story. Every time he goes to the bathhouse for massage in the story, Lao Zhu's reaction shows the change in his heart.
Act 22
A conversation between Jia Zhen and Jia Qian in the kitchen. The two expressed their different ideas about not being able to leave home, and resolved years of misunderstanding. In a single-parent family, the character setting of the eldest sister Jiazhen likes to play the role of mother. In fact, she is the one who wants to be free the most, and the second child, Jiazhen, expressed her truest thoughts because she couldn't bear Jiazhen to trap herself. The characters of the two sisters are quite the opposite. The second child seems to be pursuing the distance, but he is the one in the family who is most reluctant to leave his father.
Among them, Jiazhen said "I broke the plate" when washing dishes. Jiaqian answered "it's okay".
This plate is the plate of their sister relationship. It was broken by Jiazhen and cracked for many years. It wasn't until Jia Ning's departure that he said it was okay. The estrangement between the two sisters has since opened up, and the personalities and inner world of the two people are clearly understood when they wash dishes in the kitchen.
Act 23
Jiaqian learns at the office that she has confirmed her personnel decision to be transferred to the Netherlands.
Act 24
The conversation between Lao Zhu and Liang's mother in the living room explained Liang's mother's past. Mother Liang came to Taiwan as a foreigner, and this kind of "foreigner" is not destined to become Lao Zhu's favorite. It reflects that after some years, Taiwanese locals and foreigners are still drawn on the accents of the two people. a dividing line.
This time the conversation has warmed up Lao Zhu's emotional line. First of all, it was obvious that Lao Zhu did not express his position, and he did not give the reason or give too much inner portrayal. For the development of the following chapters, it also forced Lao Zhu to come out with the thoughts that he had been hiding in his heart.
Every conversation of Liang's mother forced Lao Zhu to come out a little, and pushed the development of the plot to a climax.
Act 25
Lao Zhu looked uncomfortable in the bathroom.
Act 26
Jia Qian and Li Kai confronted each other in the office and found out that Jia Zhen had never had a boyfriend who had been with her for nine years and left her heartbroken and single until now. Jiazhen's character design began to become complicated, and a new contradiction was set up, and the focus of the characters turned to Jiazhen. The next one that is about to end will be Jiazhen's love line, and Jiazhen will be the second to leave home.
Jiaqian was also hit by this revelation. In the face of transfer abroad, her father's hidden illness, her sister's departure from home, and this scene of her sister's deception for many years, her inner world is about to collapse.
Act 27
Old Wen passed away.
When Lao Zhu remembered the memory at home, he said, "My sense of taste is dead, I want to drink plain water."
In the second act of the opening, when Lao Zhu was called back to the big kitchen to help, he said that Lao Wen is his own taste, and it all depends on Lao Wen's color and taste. The long-term friendship between Lao Wen and Lao Zhu is linked into a complete circle from the two lines before and after in the theme "diet" of the whole film.
Through Lao Wen's death and naming him again, Lao Zhu has completely lost his sense of food and life. There are fewer and fewer people left in the Zhu family, and the core contradictions that exist are getting deeper and deeper.
Act 28
Jiazhen played the Jesus song to the resident who was singing upstairs. Use religious weights to vent your inner loneliness. It becomes the foreshadowing of Jiazhen's emotional outburst in the next scene.
Act 29
Jiazhen's love letter that appeared on the desktop every day but was absent today broke out completely. The mischievous student came to apologize, Zhou Mingdao's comfort, let Jiazhen take the initiative to kiss. This active kiss, contrary to Jiazhen's restrained character setting, is the biggest turning point. Since then, Jiazhen has been completely liberated from the state of seeking excuses in Christianity.
Having been unable to find love for many years, a self-release was completed in this scene. Character characteristics and positioning are flipped.
Act Thirty
Jiaqian's ex-boyfriend told Jiaqian that he was getting married. Jia Qian expressed her blessings, and when she left, she picked up a green sweater. The green sweater specifically written in the script is a powerful signal. About to be an open lover relationship, still feeling betrayed by a third person relationship. Jiaqian has been betrayed twice in love and family (Jiazhen on).
Act Thirty-One
Lao Zhu discussed retirement matters with the person in charge of the hotel. Lao Zhu's line: "Don't say that Chinese food has been in Taiwan for more than 40 years. It has already been three rivers and five lakes flowing into the sea." It reflects the exchange between Taiwan's local food and foreign food over the years. It is the same empathy effect that people from other provinces, represented by Liang's mother, came to live in Taiwan. Use food culture to reflect the great fusion of the whole Taiwan over the years.
Act Thirty-second
Conversation between Mother Liang and Jin Rong at home. The role of Liang's mother was once again ingenious, expressing her preference for Lao Zhu and forcing Jin Rong out. The relationship between Lao Zhu and Jinrong was forced from the bottom of the table to the top of the table.
Act Thirty-Three
The Zhu family's fourth dinner together.
In the absence of Jia Ning, the Zhu family's dinner has gradually become a routine. Jia Zhenqian took Guo Lun to participate and announced the news that the two were married. Like the scene of sending Jia Ning away, this scene sends Jia Zhen away.
The daughters left the Zhu family one by one according to the proportion of their roles, and now only Jia Qian is left.
Jiaqian did not resolve the conflict that Jiazhen had deceived over the years before Jiazhen left. This thread did not continue.
Act Thirty-Four
Old Zhu and Jiaqian clean up Jiazhen's room.
Act thirty-fifth
The conversation between Lao Zhu and Liang's mother. Mother Liang revealed her intentions implicitly, and Lao Zhu's inner self began to explode. The promotion of the event is again completed by the role of Liangmu.
Act Thirty-six
Lao Zhu was in great pain when he massaged in the bathhouse.
Act Thirty-Seven
Jiazhen and Guo Lun go back to Zhu's house to carry their luggage. Jiaqian Xiang Jiazhen talked about the frequent exchanges between Liang's mother and Lao Zhu recently, creating the illusion that the two have a further relationship, and further paving the way for the drama and reversal of the ending.
In the scene of leaving Jiaqian's daughter at home, she casually stated her decision not to transfer to the Netherlands.
Act Thirty-Eight
In the conversation between Jiaqian and Li Kai, the lines made a supplementary explanation for her non-transfer, and also ended the emotional line between Jiaqian herself and Li Kai. By this scene, the feelings of the three daughters have all been described. Focus on Lao Zhu's emotional line, and finally deal with the father-daughter relationship between Lao Zhu and Jia Qian (the most representative).
Act Thirty-Ninth
Jiaqian's visit to Jianing's house once again talked about the recent frequent exchanges between Liang's mother and Lao Zhu, making the final preparations for the drama and reversal of the ending.
climax
Act 40
The Zhu family's fifth dinner together.
Lao Zhu is the focal point of this dinner, and he has a lot of thoughts when cooking. It was also the reunion of the family after the two daughters left home. There are also Jin Rong and Liang Mu at the dinner table.
The scale and pomp of the dinner this time is the climax of the whole play.
Old Zhu Jiu went through three tours, and first said that he wanted to sell the house.
Then give some characters lines and reactions, focusing on describing Liang's mother posing as a hostess.
Then give the last big piece of information, the relationship between Lao Zhu and Jinrong surfaced.
Liangmu's character role ends and she enters a coma.
The crowd was in chaos, and the dinner ended in a mess.
In the end, Jia Qian was left alone at the dinner table, crying. She laughed first and then cried. This action setting was her self-deprecation and self-abandonment. The situation of Xiao Zhu's family was as embarrassing as the dinner in front of her. She thought she was filial piety to accompany her father, but she became the loneliest one in the family.
Act 41
Urban montage, giving the orgasm a break. Pull into the ending.
ending
Act 42
The Zhu family's sixth dinner together.
The chef in the kitchen became Jia Qian. Jiazhen and Jianing are both absent. Lao Zhu came in from outside the house, which completely reversed the plot at the beginning of the film where his father was cooking and waiting for his daughter. The last dinner was when his daughter was cooking and waiting for his father, and only Lao Zhu and Jiaqian participated.
Lao Zhu recovered his sense of taste from Jiaqian's soup. Restored the taste of life and home.
What you lose at home can only be tasted after you go out and come in again.
Conflicts
-Family conflicts
1. Lao Zhu did not let Jia Qian work as a chef
2. Lao Jiaqian's jealousy towards the second child Jiaqian is rich and loving
3. The conflict between the three sisters regarding the support work of Lao Zhu, who is about to retire
- Emotional conflict
1. The love story of Lao Zhu and Jin Rong that is difficult to surface
2. Jia Qian and her ex-boyfriend have an insecure sexual partnership
3. The relationship between Jia Qian and a married colleague who can only know each other but cannot love each other
Structure
master idea
1. Modern society and traditional ethics
-Modern Ethics
(1) The love between Lao Zhu and Jin Rong is almost a generation apart in age.
(2) The self-rescue of the old lady Jane in love, and the response of seeking love loudly in the campus square.
(3) The second child, Jiaqian, and her ex-boyfriend only had sex but not a stable partnership.
(4) Lao San Jiazhen took her boyfriend from her best friend.
- traditional ethics
(1) The second child, Jiaqian, felt disgusted after learning that her ex-boyfriend was about to get married, but it was actually a traditional ethical view deeply ingrained in her heart.
(2) Liang's mother's concept of parenting.
(3) Jiazhen rejects the idea of premarital sex.
2. Diet and men and women
Lao Zhu insists on having family dinner every Sunday.
Important events in the Zhu family are always explained at the dinner table.
The urban love story line represented by the three daughters.
Movie main line
The film has two bright lines and one dark line
Bright line: the daughter's emotional line; the father-daughter's family line.
The dark line: the father's emotional line.
In the climax part, Lao Zhu said that he did not want to implicate his family because of his own affairs. In fact, Lao Zhu hoped to show his relationship with Jinrong after all his daughters found their homes. There is a causal relationship between the daughter's feelings and the father's emotional line.
The order of solving the story: Daughter's emotional line ➡️Father's emotional line ➡️Father and daughter's emotional line
recurring motif
The entire film is connected through the Zhu family's six Sunday family dinners. From the perspective of diet, through the interaction between fathers and daughters at the dinner table, the contrast between traditional and trendy views is presented, and their emotional desires are expressed.
For the first time, when Lao Zhu was preparing for dinner, he explained the four characters in four scenes. And put forward the first plot point: the second child Jiaqian made real estate investment and proposed to move out of the house.
During the second dinner, Jiaqian's real estate investment failed, and the idea of moving out was stranded. The return of Jin Rong's mother to China becomes a new trigger event. After the meal, Jin Rong and his mother Liang Mu visited Zhu's house. The possibility of giving clues to guide the development of Lao Zhu and Liang Mu.
During the third dinner, Jia Ning announced that she was pregnant and became the first person to move out of the house. This family structure, starting from the smallest piece, falls off into a long process of disintegration.
The fourth dinner, Jiazhen announced that she was married, and the second moved out of Zhu's house. The structure of the Zhu family continues, and the characters are slowly separated from the Zhu family according to the role of the scene and the importance of the characters.
At the fifth dinner, Lao Zhu announced his relationship with Jin Rong and planned to sell the old house. In an unexpectedly climax dinner, the last person to "leave Zhu's house" turned out to be Jia Qian. By this time, the gathering and dispersing of the Zhu family has been completed, and the five people who gathered together will live separately.
For the sixth dinner, only Lao Zhu and Jiaqian were present. As a farewell dinner, the hearts of father and daughter are together for the first time.
cues and rhythm
1. The different reactions of Lao Zhu's three massages in the bathhouse, the plot continues to advance.
2. When Jia Ning left, she choked up. Jia Zhen cried when she left, but only Qian Chuan didn't leave.
3. Lao Zhu wakes up his three daughters in the morning, and the number of walks decreases.
4. At the beginning of the film, Lao Zhu cooks for his daughters, and at the end of the film, Jiaqian cooks for Lao Zhu.
Character & Relationships
1. Character reveal
His father, Lao Zhu, was a widower. The chef of the restaurant, he is a semi-retired state of researching Sichuan, Yangchao and Zhejiang cuisine.
Old man Jane, in her thirties, Christian. Middle school chemistry teacher, single for many years. Suppressed, longing to be loved.
The second child Jiaqian, 27 or 8 years old, is a senior executive of a foreign company. Competitive, strong. Rigid on the outside, soft on the inside, rich in emotional history.
The third child, Jianing, is twenty years old and a college student. Working in a restaurant, she is simple, kind, and compassionate.
Jin Rong: Around thirty-five years old, sister of a friend of Jiazhen University, divorced. He lives near the Zhu family and has been cared for by the Zhu family since the divorce. Well versed in the world, forbearance and restraint.
Liang's mother: Jin Rong's mother, a widow, from other provinces. He has two daughters, one in the United States and one in Taiwan. Worldly, vanity.
Shanshan: Jinrong's daughter, kindergartener. Straightforward and honest.
Lao Wen: Lao Zhu has been a good friend for many years and a restaurant chef. Humorous and gentle. I have watched the three daughters of the Zhu family grow up since I was a child, and I prefer the second daughter, Qian.
Lei Pen: Jia Qian's ex-boyfriend runs an art gallery. Good listener, utilitarian, hypocrite.
Guo Lun: Jia Ning's boyfriend, loves to read and think. Delicate, persistent, honest.
Zhou Mingdao: Jiazhen's husband, middle school physical education teacher. Honest, simple and honest, passive and tolerant.
Li Kai: Jiaqian's colleague, married, a professional expert. The temperament is moderate, romantic and wise, and generally knowledgeable.
2. The function of the character
Lao Zhu: The key figure in the dissolution of the family, against the traditional concept of family.
Jia Qian: I have been accepting the shocks from inside and outside the family, so that the audience has the strongest sense of substitution.
Mother Liang: An important promoter of the plot, stimulating the whole story to advance to a climax.
3. The emotional transformation of characters
Lao Zhu: Maintain the family ➡️ Dissolve the family; hide your feelings ➡️ Bravely challenge traditional ethical concepts.
Ladies and gentlemen: Suppress the desire for love➡️Boldly pursue love.
The second child Jiaqian: Pursuit of freedom ➡️Returning to the family; being taken care of by my father ➡️Taking care of my father
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