We Girls

Plot Overview

Zhao Liying plays Gao Yuexiang, a single mother who resorts to crime to raise the 200,000 yuan needed for her daughter's cochlear implant surgery and ends up in prison. During her sentence, she meets four other women: Heimei (played by Lan Xiya), Deng Hong (played by Chuo Ni), Hu Ping (played by Wang Ju), and Guo Aimei (played by Cheng Xiao). Despite their different backgrounds, they form an alliance due to their shared attitude of "facing life head-on." After their release, they confront societal prejudices and survival pressures, using their resilience to rewrite their life trajectories.

Characters and Themes

Ensemble Characterization: Centered around Gao Yuexiang, the film extends to portray diverse roles such as drug addicts, domestic violence victims, and working women, revealing the struggles of women at the bottom of society.
Social Critique: By addressing issues like unequal access to medical resources and employment discrimination against released prisoners, the film reflects on systemic oppression and the clash with human warmth.
Female Empowerment: Moving away from traditional "strong female lead" narratives, the film emphasizes modern feminism through collective support among women, with details of the characters "having each other's backs" praised as "one of the most grounded works on women's issues in recent years."

Production Highlights

Feng Xiaogang's Transformation: This film marks a return to social issues for the director, following I Am Not Madame Bovary, utilizing a stark visual language paired with dark humor to balance commercial appeal with artistic expression.
Actor Breakthroughs: Zhao Liying takes on her first role as a released prisoner and portrays a mother with a natural look that showcases her acting depth; Lan Xiya plays a marginalized girl, with her sign language scenes and emotional outbursts garnering significant attention.

(Note: This introduction is based on publicly available information from the production team and does not include unverified content.)