Lin Cheng-sheng introduced his film Murmur of Youth in the catalogue of the Quinzaine programme at Cannes as follows: ‘Five years ago, I made a documentary with the same title about a girl, Mei-li, which means + +beautiful+-+. I wanted to record her puberty: how she kept falling in love and the fantasies she had about it – she had bizarre ideas about love and desire. (…) Maybe you are getting older and forgetting your youth. Maybe you are too busy surviving and there is only a sentimental corner for youth in your life. Maybe you are still in your youth. Pray that it doesn’t slip away. Here is my ode to youth.’Lin cast his ode in the form of a portrait of two girls from different backgrounds. Chen Mei-li is from an affluent family, but one in which she did not get much warmth from her embittered father and selfish mother. However the father of Lin Mei-li, a building worker, wants to spare his daughter from the hardships he has faced in his life. Both Mei-lis meet when they get a job in a cinema box office. Their conversations, initially about family, work and school, gradually become more intimate. This leads to a long talk about menstruation and a minor affair. But the main theme of Lin’s film – typically Taiwanese in many ways – is the complex interaction of family, society and individual that seems to steer fate.
