Old Asshole
zhi qiao
China / 2024 / Fiction / 30’0”I2600988
SYNOPSIS
A rural widow, recently relocated to the city to live with her daughter, is diagnosed with cancer. Though treatable, the costly medical care poses a significant financial burden to her daughter’s family, who have just purchased a home. The daughter, a homemaker, resorts to confronting her husband to fund her mother’s treatment, further straining their already fragile marriage. Faced with the risk of her daughter’s impending divorce and determined not to jeopardize her child’s future, the widow resolves to end her own life. **Thematic Exploration:** This film transposes the ethical dilemma known as the "trolley problem" into a domestic setting. When an elderly parent—without pension or savings—faces a life-threatening yet treatable illness, should the family pursue costly medical intervention? In rural China, many elderly individuals tragically choose suicide to avoid burdening their children. The story argues that poverty itself, rather than disease, is the incurable malady afflicting most ordinary families.