China’s recent history – from the lingering sting of the Cultural Revolution and the draconian one-child policy (in effect 1979-2013) to the dramatic shifts in social structures as the country careened toward a market economy – is explored through an intimate focus on two families, exposing the human cost and personal hurt tempered by compassion, resilience, and hope.

“I’m a filmmaker, so I feel I’ve been invested with the task to face reality and talk about these things that the older generations decided not to address,” says Wang. “I really wanted to bring the audience into our apartments, our living rooms, our bedrooms.”

Past and present coexist in Wang’s film and become one. “If I had decided to shoot the film linearly, it would have been an extremely long film […]. That’s why I decided to cut it and write the script in a way I could then be in control of all the story so to be able to reconstruct all the important moments in the main family’s life quite freely.”

If, for some time, this keeps the audience guessing, comprehension, when it comes, is all the deeper for it.

“So measured is the pacing, so sinuous the timeline, so understated the subtle ache of the performances that you don’t immediately realise that Wang Xiaoshuai’s exquisite three-hour drama has been performing the emotional equivalent of open-heart surgery on the audience since pretty much the first scene.” Wendy Ide, Observer

“a piercingly, profoundly moving picture that peels and exposes the senses” Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“Its power lies in the non-chronological structure, as well as the tantalising slowness with which vital information is revealed; this is a movie that dares to leave its audience in the dark for long stretches, trusting that we will wait to discover connections between allegiances and betrayals that are opaque and often separated by decades.” Ryan Gilbey, New Statesman