Ermo

This article is about a Chinese comedy. For city in Santa Catarina, see Ermo, Santa Catarina.

Ermo
Directed by	Zhou Xiaowen
Produced by	Chen Kunming Jimmy Tan
Written by	Xu Baoqi Lang Yun
Starring	Ai Liya Liu Peiqi
Cinematography	Lu Gengxin
Editing by	Zhong Furon
Release date(s)	August 1994 (Canada) 12 May 1995 (U.S.) 23 June 1995 (UK)
Running time	98 min
Language	Mandarin

Ermo (Chinese: 二嫫; pinyin: Èrmó) is a Chinese comedy/drama film, released in 1994 and directed by Zhou Xiaowen. It is essentially a satire on Western consumerism and its influence on Chinese culture.

Plot

Ermo is a hardworking village woman in the northern province of Hebei, who makes noodles to feed her husband and child. When her neighbor buys a brand new television, she is consumed by dreams of owning one herself. Desperate to own the largest television in the village, she becomes obsessive in her desire to earn money, eventually leaving the village to work in town. Her efforts to earn enough money damages her health and her relationship with her family.

The film demonstrates new trends and changes the Chinese society is experiencing during the reform era and the difference attitudes between those who join the capitalist race and those who remain behind. Ermo becomes a wise merchant (even if she only sells dry noodles) and a consumer full of aspirations, while her elder husband still drinks his Chinese medicine and sees himself as the former head of village, a role which was meaningful during the Mao era. While Ermo is becoming more and more attracted to Xiazi (瞎子), her business-oriented neighbor, and the lifestyle he represents, her husband remains impotent, both physically and metaphorically. As the film progresses it is evident that the competent capitalist-minded characters also do not find satisfaction, though it is clear that those who doesn't join the race are completely irrelevant in the modern society.

DVD release

The film has yet to be released onto DVD in the United States.

External links

• Ermo at the Internet Movie Database
• Ermo at AllRovi
• Ermo (二嫫) - Women’s Independence, Men’s Impotence, an article from Thinking Chinese, August 2010.