Diary of a Mad Old Man: Distorted Desire
By Karen Reyes
Equal parts psychosexual and heartwrenching, Wayne Wang’s fifth selection for the Toronto International Film Festival Diary of a Mad Old Man captures the frustrating, confusing, and increasingly intimate relationship between Tanaka Utsugi (Lily Franky), an aging widower, and Susu (Fan Bingbing), his daughter-in-law. Dealing with the aftermath of a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body on the night before his 69th birthday, Utsugi seems most obsessed with his newfound lack of sexual function and a longing for human connection. As the pair grows closer during a summer with Susu as his caregiver, Utsugi believes Susu is flirting with him, leading to intimate conversations, extravagant gestures, and even erotic nights and fantasies.
The first half of the film clearly lays out the family dynamics, albeit with rather slow pacing: Utsugi wants nothing to do with his family as it is. His son and Susu’s husband, Jokichi (Takumi Saitō), is hardly present and when he is, an argument is bound to happen. Utsugi’s sister-in-law repeatedly attempts to connect with Utsugi—imploring him to join them on family outings—to no avail. Despite the feeling that the first hour of the film could be filled with more plot progression, it does plant the seeds for the rapid escalation of the second half. Stolen glances, accidental brushes, and loaded words and movements set the stage for the unraveling that happens later on.
Based on Junichiro Tanizaki’s 1961 novel of the same name, it seems that the story is meant to be satirical. From a persistent foot fetish that leads to Utsugi getting Susu’s footprints engraved on his gravestone to his cartoonish rejection of anything and anyone that isn’t Susu, you can’t help but watch with a morbid and pitiful fascination as he gets lost in a relationship he’s largely projected onto his daughter-in-law. Although Susu seeks him out as well—her relationship troubles with Jokichi often push her to lean into the old man’s desire, toying with him whenever she feels wronged or needs comfort.
Fan Bingbing plays Susu with an unnerving steadiness. Each move feels calculated and intentional, like she’s always a step ahead of Utsugi and anticipating his next thought. Her powerful performance is matched by Lily Franky’s chaotic and physical portrayal of Utsugi. He succeeds in making his character feel pathetic; where the viewer might want to root for him after his stroke, we simply can’t because his actions and reasoning don’t allow it. Instead, we watch from behind our hands as he desperately tries to hold onto the fantasy of being with Susu.
The camerawork matches the dynamic scenes both with static and handheld shots that give each moment a voyeuristic feel. Shaky and unstable movement during physically intense scenes, and unmoving angles during quieter scenes, raise the tension as though we are in the room with the characters. However, the payoff for all of this tension feels a bit anticlimactic. After spending a night together, Susu disappears and Utsugi searches for her before eventually giving up. When she returns to him after hearing about the havoc he wreaked on Jokichi during his search, Utsugi asks her for one final favor before she leaves again: to allow him a print of her feet for his future gravestone. It’s hard to feel any sort of emotional impact due to the absurdity of their relationship throughout the film, and the fact that it all culminates in his foot fetish, and yet, the final scene where Susu dances on her own engraved footprints at his gravesite manages to evoke an unexpected tenderness.
Diary of a Mad Old Man is definitely not for everyone. Though its redeeming qualities are few and far between, the standout performances keep the viewer engaged enough and curious enough to follow through until the end. At the very least, it’s a strange and fascinating look into the unique mind of, as the title states, a mad old man.