PREMISE
The Farewell tells the story of BILLI W ANG, a young Chinese-American woman caught between two worlds—her modern, Westernized life in New Y ork City and the deeply rooted traditions of her Chinese family. When her family discovers that their beloved matriarch, NAI NAI, has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, they make the collective decision to keep the diagnosis a secret from her. This decision is based on the traditional Chinese belief that emotional burdens, such as knowing one is dying, can hasten death. To give the family an opportunity to say goodbye without revealing the truth, they hastily organize a fake wedding for
BILLI’S COUSIN in China as an excuse to reunite.
At the heart of the film is the tension between Billi’s Western values, which prioritize personal honesty and emotional transparency, and her family’s adherence to Chinese customs, which emphasize the preservation of collective harmony and shielding loved ones from painful truths. This cultural clash is the film’s driving force, as Billi, who was partly raised in China but is now firmly rooted in American culture, wrestles with whether to respect her family’s wishes or tell Nai Nai the truth about her condition.
The film explores universal themes of grief, family dynamics, and the complexities of cross-cultural identity. As Billi reconnects with her family and struggles to navigate her own emotions, she must reconcile the differences between her upbringing in the West and her family’s traditions. Through humor and heartbreak, The Farewell poignantly captures the emotional weight of familial love, the unspoken sacrifices made for those we care about, and the inevitable tension between cultural norms and personal truth.