By Jarrad Climpson
Meditative and a deeply profound lesson on saying goodbye.
*Potential Spoilers Ahead*
Lulu Wang’s The Farewell is based on an actual lie. Billie played by a supremely great Awkwafina, flies across to China to visit her Nai Nai who has been diagnosed with lung cancer. The catch? Her Nai Nai doesn’t know. Billie and her family are tasked with keeping this secret from her. Wang isn’t interested in making this a tearjerker though, instead she acutely examines the cycle of life and draws deep observations between Eastern and Western culture. Billie who has been predominantly raised in the United States has a very singular view of a person’s life and often finds herself at odds with her family, who have a very different view on life- that we are all connected and that one person’s life affects the whole rather than the individual.
Under the guise of organising a family wedding so they can all come together, Wang never wants to hound the audience with the diagnosis. During their final conversation together in China, Nai Nai and Billie share a deeply profound conversation on how to live life. Nai Nai tells Billie it’s not about what you are able to accomplish in life, but rather the way you go about life in your day to day. Happiness isn’t achieved with an accomplished life- it’s achieved through a fulfilled life. That’s the hopeful note Wang ends the movie on, maybe we shouldn’t be so obsessed with our fates and to use that energy focusing on the here and now.
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