Favorite Characters: Lulu (Days of Being Wild)

Technically, her name is Leung Fung-ying, and she goes by Mimi at least as often as Lulu, but for simplicity, I wanted to use one consistent name for this write-up, so Lulu it is.  This film and this character was my first introduction to Carina Lau as an actress, and it remains my favorite role I’ve seen of her so far (a few spoilers.)

On a surface level, Lulu is a pretty broad character type, and I’m sure there are those who would argue that she “deserves” everything she gets.  From the start, she’s set up as a contrast to Su Li-zhen, and her own relationship with Yuddy is often shown through the lens of how Su Li-zhen is affected by it.  In a way, Lulu is the “whore” to Su Li-zhen’s “Madonna.” Even though both get involved in sexual relationships with Yuddy that ultimately wind up hurting them due to his callous detachment, vivacious Lulu knows exactly how alluring she is and can be aggressive about her sexual desires, while Su Li-zhen is far more demure and internal.  Where Su Li-zhen is soft, Lulu is commanding, and where Su Li-zhen turns her anger and sadness toward herself after Yuddy breaks things off with her, Lulu gets in his face and confronts him.

Now, there’s obviously nothing “wrong” with being confident, outspoken, and in possession of a healthy sexual appetite, but when held up to Su Li-zhen for comparison, the ostensible take-away is that Lulu is “bad” and Su Li-zhen is “good.”  It’s a depressing dynamic that we’ve seen time and again in movies, and it would’ve been easy for the film to leave it at that. For me, though, the film goes a lot deeper with Lulu.

In small ways, we see how her brashness is a product of her vulnerabilities.  She yells in part because she’s afraid of going unnoticed – to her, Yuddy tossed out Su Li-zhen for being a blushing wallflower, and if Lulu wants to keep him in her life, she needs to prove that she won’t be so easily ignored.  Her fears show through the cracks in her façade in small moments, like her insecurity that Yuddy hasn’t told her about his mother, or the way she lies so boldly, clinging to them even when she knows Yuddy sees through her and finally owning up them with a defiance that belies her position.  She’s strong because she has to be, convincing herself that if she just holds her ground, Yuddy will have to treat her the way she deserves.

Unfortunately for her, there’s no rule that says relationships have to work like that, especially when someone like Yuddy is involved.  Lulu couldn’t present herself any more differently than Su Li-zhen, but in the end, Yuddy treats them in exactly the same way. Worse maybe – Su Li-zhen spends much of the film tortured by Yuddy’s dismissive goodbye to her, but Lulu doesn’t even have anything solid to hold onto.  While he drops Su Li-zhen, he disappears on Lulu, telling Zeb to let her know that he’s left the country only if she comes around looking for him (and that’s only when Zeb asks what he’s going to tell Lulu.) For loud, insistent, refusing-to-be-ignored Lulu, this is the worst thing of all, to be barely an afterthought in the mind of someone she cares about.  It’s here that her façade cracks, and even though she’s of course going to be much better off without him, as is Su Li-zhen, she has to spend quite a bit of time weighed down by the insult of being thrown away so nonchalantly. This is why the contrast between Su Li-zhen and Lulu works for me, because it shows that there’s no right way to have a relationship with Yuddy.  He’s going to be a toxic presence no matter who he’s with, and as Lulu learns, she can’t make him stay by being what she thinks he wants, because there’s no one that can truly satisfy him.