I start this review with a rant – as I started writing this, I checked information for it on IMDB and was shocked to learn this has been slapped with an ‘18’ certificate. I double-checked on the BBFC website and, no, I was not mistaken, this really is considered a film that only those eighteen or over can watch. The same certificate afforded ‘Salo’ and ‘A Serbian Film’. All because of one scene where two characters, in a desperate state, end their lives. Not in a graphic way, nor in a manner that recommends or condones it. Simply showing the last moments of a couple and the aftermath. In so doing, the BBFC have ensured that this superb romantic drama has its audience greatly reduced; it really would be a PG at most without that one scene, something that astounds me.
Belligerent Chang lives on his own since his wife’s death years before, an event that has taken any last embers of joy from his existence. His one outlet is a few friends in the local park and the rivalry he has with the irascible woman, Li, who lives in the same apartment building and who sustains her life collecting empty aluminium cans to recycle. Yet Chang and Li are brought together by mutual friends and suddenly discover that they have much in common, not least of which is their hand-to-mouth existence. The couple soon become more than friends and have to tackle a world where people of their age are largely forgotten, a fact that brings inevitable friction with it.
As implied by the opening paragraph, I really enjoyed ‘Love Never Ends’. A heart-warming love story, a powerful comment on the treatment of the elderly in China (though it can be extended worldwide) and a stunning drama that looks at how the marginalised survive. Not that this is a polemic about an oppressed class – ‘Love Never Ends’ is much too sophisticated and illuminating than that. In lesser hands, this might have been a clumsy topical statement without substance, but instead it is an extraordinary film that weaves its message into a narrative populated by people you genuinely care about.
‘Love Never Ends’ relies on a quartet of older actors, three of whom are Hong Kong legends. Kara Hui, Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Cecilia Yip – all actors I watched over the past thirty years – give performances far removed from their glamorous heyday, yet their skill shines through in every scene. Cecilia Yip in particular is virtually unrecognisable as former Chinese Opera actress Zhao; I had to look through the credits to check that this was the same actress from ‘Swordsman’, ‘Nomad’ and ‘Hong Kong 1941’. All three are outstanding, but it is perhaps ‘Curse of the Golden Flower’ actor Ni Dahong as the awkward Chang who is especially memorable – the unpeeling of the layers of this angry old man is a joy to behold.
If there was one scene that made me conclude that this was an unforgettable film, it would be the dinner party with the young relatives of Zhao and Xie. A set-up that has been used many times before and yet rarely has the distance between the generations been so accurately shot; it reminded me of ‘Tokyo Story’, a fact that shows just how good ‘Love Never Ends’ is. Perhaps the fact that this has been slapped with a prohibitive certificate also says something about the generations; it’s better to drown in sex and ultra violence than confront something as terrible as the loneliness and despair of the elderly.
- Love Never Ends - September 13, 2025
- Hitman In The Hand Of Buddha - August 31, 2025
- Invincible Swordsman - August 10, 2025
