Women from the Lake of Scented Souls (1993)

Woman Sesame Oil Maker (Chinese: 香魂女; pinyin: Xiāng hún nǚ) is a 1993 Chinese film. In the English speaking world it has been released in the United Kingdom under the title Women from the Lake of Scented Souls (the more literal translation) and more recently on DVD as Woman Sesame Oil Maker. It is adapted from a novel by Zhou Daxin (周大新), "The Fragrant Oil Mill by the Lake of Scented Souls" (香魂塘畔的香油坊).

The film is adapted and directed by Xie Fei and tells the story of a woman in a small village in Hebei who runs a small sesame oil business that becomes unexpectedly successful, but who then uses her money to buy for her mentally disabled son a peasant bride.

The film won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival in 1993, a prize it shared with Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet.

Synopsis

Illiterate villager Second Sister Xiang (Siqin Gaowa) was sold as a tongyangxi (child bride) to her present husband, a man with a lame leg, when she was seven. She has an intellectually disabled son Dunzi, who suffers from epileptic fits and is now grown up, and a younger daughter Zhi'er. Through her diligence she has started a successful sesame oil mill and now becomes the richest person in her village.

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