bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Edmund Lee

3.5/5 stars
An elderly lesbian loses her unmarried life partner unexpectedly and then sees her once-cordial relationship with the latter’s relatives disintegrate over inheritance issues in All Shall Be Well.
A quietly heart-wrenching drama from writer-director Ray Yeung, the film highlights a loophole in same-sex couples’ legal rights in Hong Kong.
It won the Teddy Award at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival – one of the most prestigious honours for an LGBTQ-themed feature in world cinema – and proves a worthy follow-up to Yeung’s Suk Suk, another acclaimed drama focusing on the distressing situations faced by older gay people in Chinese society.


All Shall Be Well opens with a tender glimpse into the loving, 40-plus-year relationship between Angie Wang (Patra Au Ga-man) and Pat Wu (Maggie Li Lin-lin) as they prepare to welcome Pat’s older brother, Shing (Tai Bo), and his extended family to a cosy Mid-Autumn Festival dinner in their apartment.
Angie and Pat are an affluent couple thanks to Pat’s business acumen and the wealth gap between them and the working-class Shing, his wife Mei (Hui So-ying), and their two adult children, Victor (Leung Chung-hang) and Fanny (Fish Liew Chi-yu), is very clear.
While always generous with money with their relatives, Angie and Pat are inevitably the subject of much envy behind their backs – a situation they appear to be painfully oblivious to.

When Pat dies suddenly in her sleep at age 69 without leaving a will, the affection between Angie and the Wu family begins to fade, starting with the Wu’s denying Pat’s wish for a sea burial, despite Angie’s insistence, in favour of a fortune-teller’s plea to put her ashes in a columbarium based on feng shui reasons.
While their disagreements never degenerate into histrionics, Angie soon faces the prospect of being removed from her residence of over 30 years, as her unofficial in-laws take advantage of the fact her name is not on the property deed – something that would be impossible with a heterosexual marriage.
As he did in Suk Suk, Yeung is at pains to maintain that there are no bad people in his world, only those with wildly different perspectives. The Wu’s may be politely ruining Angie’s life, but they are only doing so because of how badly they’re struggling with their own financial situations, as the film takes time to show us.

A former teacher who made her film debut in her 60s with Suk Suk, Au provides the beating heart of this understated drama as a widow besieged by grief and human greed. Around her, the uniformly excellent ensemble cast playing the Wu family also render their characters’ subtle changes in attitude all the more unwatchable.
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook


The Hong Kong films released in 2024 ranked from worst to best, led by The Last Dance

Actor Chow Yun-fat, showing his photographs of Hong Kong, says ‘It works when it’s right’

3 of John Woo’s lesser known action films, from gory war film to Hitchcock-inspired comedy

5 of the best things to do in Hong Kong this weekend, December 20-22

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

All Shall Be Well movie review: Hong Kong LGBTQ drama from Suk Suk director Ray Yeung highlights tragic legal loophole

Patra Au in a still from the movie All Shall Be Well (category IIB; Cantonese). Tai Bo and Leung Chung-hang co-star in this Hong Kong LGBTQ drama directed by Ray Yeung. 

A still from All Shall Be Well.

Maggie Li (left) and Patra Au in a still from All Shall Be Well.

Cinema Strada movie review: Hong Kong film critic and historian Law Kar narrates his view of the world

Film writer and historian Law Kar in a still from the documentary film Cinema Strada.

Film critic and historian Law Kar in his youth (left) in a still from the documentary film Cinema Strada (category IIA; Cantonese). Donna Ong directs

Law Kar in a still from Cinema Strada.

A still from an early experimental short film made by Law Kar, seen in Cinema Strada.

Suspect movie review: Nick Cheung plays detective in laughably incoherent psychological thriller

Nick Cheung in a still from Suspect.

Nick Cheung in a still from Suspect (category IIB; Cantonese). Zhang Yishang co-stars, and Sam Wong directs.

Nick Cheung and Niki Chow in a still from Suspect.

Fly Me to the Moon movie review: Hong Kong writer Sasha Chuk makes directing debut with wistful coming-of-age drama

Sasha Chuk in a still from Fly Me to the Moon.

Sasha Chuk in a still from Fly Me to the Moon (category IIB, Cantonese and Mandarin), which she also directs. Wu Kang-ren and Yoyo Tse co-star.


Yoyo Tse as an adolescent Yuen in a still from Fly Me to the Moon.

Angela Yuen (left) as Kuet and Wu Kang-ren as her father in a still from Fly Me to the Moon.

As It Burns movie review: Stephy Tang, Jasper Liu fail to light up horribly unconvincing mystery romance drama

Stephy Tang and Jasper Liu in a still from As It Burns.

Jasper Liu and Stephy Tang in a still from As It Burns (category IIB; Cantonesse, Mandarin), directed by Lee Po-cheung.

Jasper Liu and Stephy Tang in a still from As It Burns.

We 12 movie review: Cantopop boy band Mirror make group debut in a heist comedy so awful, it’s a litmus test of fandom

Anson Lo in a still from We 12.

Keung To (left) and Alton Wong in a still from We 12 (category IIA; Cantonese), which stars their 10 fellow members of boy band Mirror. Berry Ho directs 

(From left) Frankie Chan, Jeremy Lee and Jer Lau in a still from We 12.

Anson Lo (left) and Lokman Yeung in a still from We 12.

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

Starring Patra Au, Tai Bo and Leung Chung-hang, All Shall Be Well sees an elderly Hong Kong lesbian at risk of losing everything after her partner suddenly dies
Au is the beating heart of this quietly heart-wrenching drama as a widow besieged by grief and human greed, backed up by an excellent ensemble cast


Starring Patra Au, Tai Bo and Leung Chung-hang, director Ray Yeung’s LGBTQ drama All Shall Be Well sees an elderly Hong Kong lesbian at risk of losing everything after her partner suddenly dies.


Chinese language cinema

Asian cinema

Film reviews

Cinema

Hong Kong cinema

Asian cinema: Chinese films

Fame and celebrity

Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Hong Kong culture

Hong Kong entertainment

What to do in Hong Kong

Berlin International Film Festival

LGBTQ

Diversity and inclusion

An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review

Review | All Shall Be Well movie review: Hong Kong LGBTQ drama from Suk Suk director Ray Yeung highlights tragic legal loophole