The expansion of the husband’s role — and his quick turnaround from unfeeling cad to redeeming spouse who wants to make amends — may be due to such financial meddling.
It parallels Szczepanowska’s role in the film as well, as an outsider who struggles to be accepted despite her social standing, 15 years in the country and mastery of language. “Touch” even begins in a bureaucrat’s office where she seeks a permanent residency designation that is endlessly delayed because, she fears she is a “low value individual.”
Expected only to provide another baby (a nursery has already been built for the eventuality), she seems a little lost. Her husband is dismissive when he isn’t just distant. With a mysterious past, he may possibly hope she would be deported. Fei Fei spends her time teaching a tango class, infusing the East with its sultry traditions.
The woman’s curiosity about the blind masseuse leads to some sensual intimacy — on the massage table and off.
As director, Szczepanowska keeps a handheld camera tilting, as if reflecting Fei Fei’s own imbalance. As she thinks about her mysterious masseuse, she imagines him popping up in the house. Likewise his point of view is fuzzy.
Things progress slowly, but eventually she agrees to meet for private sessions at his home and all that portends. The sessions lead to quasi kinky treatments involving hot wax and what looks to be smoking acupuncture needles.
Only when the masseuse becomes more clingy and demanding upon the inevitable parting does the remarkable film take on the kind of conventions of a Lifetime movie, where heroines put trust in the wrong person only to have terrifying ramifications.
Locks are changed, children are approached by strange men. Things get jumpy at home. For a first feature, Szczepanowska has a solid handle on the rhythms of such a thriller.
There is a suggestion, though, that this assault could be nightmares or a form of gaslighting by the husband, too, elevating the menaced woman plot.
Despite any conventions, “Touch” remains a high quality art film that provides the West a surprising look at the super-wealthy corners of China. Shot in the gated seaside town of Beidaihe, it provides a surprising portrait of quiet beauty and wealth there.
That “Touch” got made at all was a triumph; its arrival announces the presence of a substantial talent.
“Touch” makes its theatrical debut on the Laemmle Virtual Cinema June 28.