Study guide: Lulu Wang's The Farewell

The Farewell is based on actual events drawn from the life and experience of writer and director Lulu Wang. After writing the script Wang struggled to finance the film because of the Mandarin dialogue, the all-Asian cast and the unconventional narrative. Both American and Chinese investors were confused about the target audience: Was this film for Chinese or American viewers? It was only after Wang scripted her story for radio and presented it on This American Life that she found a producer interested in helping her get the funds together to shoot the film.

• Listen to “What you don’t know”, the story Wang told in an episode of This American Life.
• To get an idea of the challenges Wang faced getting her film financed, check out some of the interviews she gave when The Farewell was first released.

Wang speaks Chinese fluently but does not write it, so she wrote her script in English and then had it translated into Mandarin. However, in the process of being translated, the story lost its naturalness and authenticity and Wang asked her parents to make it more conversational and real: “They were of great help because they not only know the language, they also know all the real people involved and what they sound like in real life."

• Watch Lulu Wang’s fascinating account of the complexities of writing a Chinese script without being able to read or write Chinese. (You will also learn how a script is formatted in Chinese.)

Nora Lum/Awkwafina who plays the main character, Billi, does not speak Chinese fluently and her character’s limited vocabulary and stilted speech became one of the ways that her struggle with her Chinese identity was communicated.

The Farewell is set in both New York and Changchun. Changchun is the actual city that Lulu Wang’s grandparents come from and where she spent time living with them when she was a child. Wang and her team initially thought it would be easier to film in Beijing, but they decided the changing cityscape of Changchun is so central to the story the film needed to be made there. Wang filmed scenes inside and outside her real-life grandmother’s actual apartment, the cemetery scene took place at her grandfather’s grave and the wedding banquet was filmed at the same venue as her cousin’s actual wedding.

Find out more about Changchun:

Wang focuses a great deal on interior spaces in The Farewell.

Nǎinai fought with the Chinese army during the revolution and invites her old friends from the army to the wedding celebrations.

In the scene at the cemetery, we see a mingling of past and present attitudes and rituals.

Chinese culture traditionally privileges relationships between people over individual rights, with family placed at the centre of people’s lives. In many western countries, the emphasis is more on individual autonomy. This is particularly the case in the United States which is founded on principles of freedom and individual fulfilment.

Focus on the scene in the hospital where Billi and the English-educated doctor discuss the rights and wrongs of not telling Nǎinai the truth.

For Lulu Wang, the story is ultimately about accepting different approaches and perspectives:

“It's about having the strength to have your own opinions, but also having the grace to acknowledge that others have theirs."

The complex and sometimes stressful relationships between different family members are at the heart of The Farewell.

Lulu Wang considers the most important conversation between Billi and Nǎinai to be the one that takes place while Aiko and Hao Hao have their photos taken.

Billi’s father and uncle left China with their families many years earlier to make a new life in another country. Their decision to leave becomes a source of tension when the extended family gathers for lunch at a restaurant.

Each meal has a different mood and communicates new information about the family and what they are feeling.

When describing the way the food is depicted in The Farewell, Awkwafina (Billi) said: “I’ve never seen food portrayed so coldly, especially Asian food. You never see Asian food portrayed like it’s the last thing you ever want to eat.”

Remember how upset Nǎinai is that crab is going to be served at the wedding rather than the lobster she ordered? This article explains why.

This personal account from an American woman with a Chinese family heritage is inspired by The Farewell. It highlights the central role food plays in Chinese family life, as well as the stress it can cause.

If you don’t have access to a copy of the film, watch the trailer as a reminder of some of the visual language used in The Farewell.

Note down visual elements:

• the use of light and colour
• different shot choices
• and the way that people are positioned in the shot
• the way that people are positioned in relation to each other
• the actors’ facial expressions, gestures and movements

Do you think the trailer does a good job of communicating what the film is about? Explain your answer.

Lulu Wang has worked very hard to publicise her film and has given many great interviews that provide further background to the story she is telling and the creative decisions she made as writer-director.

• To learn more about how Wang created the look and feel of The Farewell through lighting and camera choices, read to the end of this in-depth article.
• Read this article to find out about the thinking behind the scene that takes place outside Nǎinai’s apartment the day after Billi arrives.

Imagine you have been assigned the job of writing a review of The Farewell for a Chinese audience.

According to Lulu Wang, The Farewell is an American film as it portrays events from Billi’s perspective.

This resource has been written by ACMI educator Susan Bye and targets Chinese Language students.  It focuses on Chinese culture, themes relating to family and film analysis.