Separation and Reunion

The marriage registration office of Dalian Xigang District in China. By the law set in 1999, the office is working as a state institution that defines, among other things, marital law and civilised marriage customs. It could also renounce an invalid marriage and approve the marriage registration. In this direct cinema film, the camera, as a hidden witness, records the intimate stories of young, old, calm or angry couples and observes their personal dramas. The female clerk tries to understand the couples, interrogating them with motherly warmth. But in the first chapter of this film, Divorce, nobody is willing to make an effort to compromise or even to comprehend his or her partner's reasoning. Various marital issues are presented; one of the biggest problems in many cases is how to deal with the property. The following chapter, Reunion, deals with couples that got married again after being divorced for some time. Some of the partners are already aged people who changed their mind after living alone for so many years. Since 2003, the statement of marital status has been abandoned and the physical examination for marriage is not compulsory any longer.