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China · 2017
1h 47m
Director Vivian Qu
Starring Vicky Chen, Zhou Meijun, Shi Ke, Geng Le
Genre Drama
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In a small seaside town, two schoolgirls, Wen and Xin, are sexually assaulted by a middle-aged man in a motel. Mia, a teenager who was working on reception that night, is the only witness. Mia, Wen, and Xin must all face difficult decisions, as an insensitive society complicates their search for justice.
The film looks heavenly, often bathed in light, as if Qu wants nothing more than to assuage these women of their suffering by suggesting paradise. But the brightness is just a veneer. Beneath the surface, “Angels Wear White” is as bleak as they come.
The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
Perhaps Qu’s near-passive tone is meant to suggest that women don’t have much of a voice in society. But the story's almost complete lack of emotion also negatively impacts the viewers’ interest in the women’s plight. What does come through loud and clear is that Angels Wear White paints an unflattering portrait of not only how women are treated but also of how men try to protect their turf at all costs.
In her understandable fury, Vivian Qu almost valorizes suffering, embracing it as a substantial signifier of identity.
Screen International by Fionnuala Halligan
It’s an excoriating story told with gentle sympathy; a lashing tale about the abuse and marginalisation of women at the hands of a dark establishment in a sun-filled resort.
The New York Times by Glenn Kenny
The moral rot and callous corruption depicted in Angels Wear White has a particularly bracing effect in part because, cultural specifics aside, the inhumanity on display is hardly alien.
The Film Stage by Jared Mobarak
Angels Wear White becomes a bottomless pit of despair consuming complex characters with nowhere to go.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Kate Taylor
Qu’s symbolism, including a giant statue of Marilyn Monroe in her provocative Seven-Year-Itch pose presiding over an empty beachfront playground, is big, bold and impressively cinematic, thanks also to cinematographer Benoît Dervaux.
Engaging female dynamics result in strong, convincing performances, especially as their relations eschew platitudes on sisterhood or exploitative images of victimization.
Angels Wear White brings into relief the bureaucratic corruption and class tension that inform the power dynamics of such situations.
Village Voice by Serena Donadoni
Qu unpacks much that matters in Angels Wear White, including the abuse of power and importance of status and wealth in Chinese society, but her most thoughtful, nuanced observations involve female sexuality.
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