The Temporality of Life and Reality of Death in “The Time To Live, The Time To Die”

In James Udden’s, “No Man An Island: The Cinema of Hou Hsiao-hsien” he argues that the lack of conventional “drama” in Hsien’s film The Time to Live, The Time to Die (1985) is to be expected, as it works to create the experience of viewing the film as it was meant to be; as a flow of memories from Hsien’s childhood (Udden, pp.73). Furthermore, he argues Hsien’s intermixing of the incidental and the significant makes the viewer less prepared for when the significant actually occurs (pp.73). In discussing two scenes from the film, I aim to illustrate how it is through the use of static long takes - takes lacking in camera movement and in cuts - that Udden’s claims regarding the lack of drama are true, as well as how these takes themselves contribute to the realism and flow of memories aspects of the film, particularly regarding the concept of death within the film.

The first scene in which the use of static long takes contributes to the realism, memory aspects of the film is early in the film when the father is talking to the mother about someone they know being thrown out of their house (35:04-35:59). In this scene, the father is seen sitting in his chair, framed within the door frame of the room he is in, and from a fair distance from the camera, as though we, the viewer, are the young child in the film peering into the room and listening in on the conversation. During the conversation between mother and father, they discuss the communists and someone they know being thrown out of their house as a result of the rising political tension, with the mother at one point saying that they should have brought him with them when they moved in order to help protect him. This moment touches on the fragility and temporality of life, and the realization that life is temporary and is often only realized after the fact, as seen through the mother’s words in hindsight. This is one of the earliest moments in the film in which death is alluded to, an important moment as death is a major theme of the film and this discussion of life and death within this scene becomes more important in later scenes to be discussed. 

The static nature of the shot, particularly when the father is speaking without interruption, contributes to the realism of this scene and thus the experience of memories which it creates. The lack of movement, coupled with the framing of the father within the room and the doorframe, places the viewer in the position of the child who is witnessing this happen in real time. Similarly to real life, there are no zooms or cuts, things simply occur as they do and those experiencing it have no choice but to experience it completely unaltered. This scene becomes more significant, as well as these claims regarding the use of the static long take become increasingly evident, during the latter half of the film, in the scenes following the death of the father.

The scenes in which the children are going through the donations from the funeral and the autobiography of their father (2:04:44-2:05:59; 2:06:35-2:07:57), further illustrate the significance of the static long takes, as well as Hsien’s use of delayed exposition. The camera is positioned with the children who are gathered together on the floor, once again placing the viewer with them and thus able to view and experience this event with them. The static long take of these moments contributes to these feelings because, as said before, that is how they are experienced in real life, without cuts or editing. The viewer is forced to face the painful, often uncomfortable, experience of losing a loved one and come face to face with the temporality of life with the children within the film by feeling as though they are seated in the room with them and hearing and experiencing everything at the same time as them. 

This idea of the temporary in regard to the father is especially evident in the framing of the shot, as it is in the same room and within the same door frame as the previously discussed scene with the father.  Whereas in the previous scene, we are sort of introduced to the idea of life and its temporariness through the father’s discussion of someone being thrown out of their house, here we are forced to come face to face with this idea through the death of the father. Furthermore, the father’s chair becomes increasingly significant to the idea of the temporary as it is revealed in this scene that the father only bought it because it could be easily thrown away. Just as the bamboo chair can be easily thrown away, life is so easily lost, such as that of the father’s, and we are reminded of that through the presence of the chair within the scene.

The static nature of these scenes makes this discovery of the loss of life have an increased impact on the viewer, as they are forced to experience it in a more real way, similarly to the characters on screen and similarly to Hou Hsiao-hsien’s experiences. The lack of cuts, zooms, or special effects and camera movements works to mimic the reality of death in real life, as there is typically no fantastical distraction from it. Rather, it is an experience one is forced to endure in its entirety, no matter how uncomfortable or unwanted it may be. The static long shots reflect this, as there is no additional editing to remind the viewer they are watching a film or to distract them from the issue at hand. Instead, they are placed into the same vision of Hsien, into his memory, to fully experience the death of the father, the aftermath, and the lack of glamour within that. 

The intermixing of incidental and significant, and the lack of preparation for the latter, also contributes to the realism and ‘flow of memories’ aspects of the film. A major concept is death, which is often not something that can be prepared for. While some things such as wills, discussions of how to treat the deceased person once they are gone, and even prolonged grief while waiting for someone to die can be “prepared for” the actual experience of someone you love dying is not. This is especially so in the film, due to the back and forth of incidental and significant; just like life, there is no warning that death is near or what it will be like. For Hsien, this is even more so as he and the children did not know about his father’s tuberculosis until after he died and thus could not even attempt to prepare themselves for his inevitable death. 

The static long takes almost resemble the incidental, despite occurring during significant moments. The lack of “drama” as Udden puts it, makes them appear, on the surface and out of context, bland and lacking in the action and emotion typically associated with significant experiences. Furthermore, static long takes are used various times throughout the film, both in significant and ‘insignificant’ moments, thus making it difficult to easily distinguish between the two, since each are filmed in similar ways. This sort of juxtaposition between incidental ways of filming within significant scenes through the use of static long shots works to effectively create the experience of real life memories within the film, as the ‘incidental’ shots mimic the ways in which significant events occur in real life without warning, as well as represent how death, as heavy and significant as it is, is still simply a part of life. By representing it similarly to the incidental - that is, in simple non dramatic and overly excessive ways - Hsien effectively frames it as a real life memory, flowing through time and the mind similarly to other moments within life.

The lack of drama in the film The Time to Live, The Time to Die effectively creates a viewing experience as that of a flow of memories. Through the use of static long takes throughout the film, in both significant and ‘insignificant’ moments, Hsien disrupts viewers’ assumptions of what a significant vs insignificant moment looks like on screen, thereby making the viewer unable to prepare for significant events (Udden pp. 73). In doing so, he is able to use static long takes to set up viewers to experience significant life experiences, such as death, in more realistic, unexpected ways, just as it is experienced unexpectedly in real life. Furthermore, these shots position the viewers within the film as though they are with the other characters on screen. This, coupled with the realistic lack of editing, cuts, and camera movements, makes these experience increasingly realistic and uncomfortable, thereby effectively creating an experience that resembles that of one’s memories throughout life.