Love, Sex and Desire
(Fen xin yu huo)

In the 1930’s, a young girl from the mountains, Shui Xiu, whose former husbands all died suddenly, is rejected by the other peasants, who consider her unlucky. She begs Luo, a visiting sculptor, to take her away and, in return, promises to marry his retarded son, Mao Mao. Her presence gives a new lease on life to the boy and to Luo, a widower who never remarried after his first wife’s death twenty years before. Soon after, Luo realizes that his sympathy for Shui has turned into love. Mao Mao cannot fulfill his marital duties and, after a while, the young woman falls in love with Su Nan, a college graduate. Torn between her loyalty to Luo and her love for Su Nan, she decides to leave Su Nan. In an effort to repay Luo for his kindness, she comforts him in his loneliness and eventually becomes pregnant. A lot of wild rumors are spread. Mao Mao goes berserk and burns the house down before falling to his death. In remorse Luo immolates himself. The crying of the new-born baby in the distance renews his desire to live, but it is too late.