‘Girls On Wire’ Review: Vivian Qu’s Third Film Paints an Unforgiving Portrait of Two Cousins Trying to Outrun Their Fate [C] – Berlinale

More than ten years after the film she produced —Diao Yinan’s Black Coal, Thin Ice — won the top prize at the 64th Berlinale, Vivian Qu presents her third feature as director: the Competition title Girls On Wire. The filmmaker, who hails from Beijing, was a Venice regular with her debut (Trap Street, 2013) and sophomore films (Angels Wear White, 2017) opening there to critical acclaim; with Girls On Wire, she continues exploring social issues like inequality and women’s struggles between past (1990s) and present times. For the former, the crew shot in the city of Chongqing, and the latter has Xiangshan Film City on the east coast of China for a backdrop. The central character is actually a dual protagonist – two cousins who grew up together in the same household: Tian Tian (Liu Haocun, who starred in Zhang Yimou’s [pulled out] Berlinale title One Second), and Fang Di (Wen Qi, reuniting with the director after Angels Wear White) are the titular “girls on wire.” 

The title would literally translate as “the girls who want to fly” and the dialogue makes use of that poetic reference more than once when Tian Tian mentions she has a “cousin who flies,” a cheeky allegory for Fang Di’s work as a stunt double in Film City. This is also where the two estranged cousins meet, when Tian Tian seeks out Fang Di among the hugely populated sets, and their encounter provokes more questions than answers for the first half of the film. It’s Vivian Qu’s intention to switch the narrative up, with a lot of flashbacks punctuating a tense narrative of a revenge-thriller, but the timeline jumps are what provides the viewer with more extensive context as to who these young women are. 

In the flashback scenes, we see Tian Tian (the younger cousin) looking up to Fang Di and following in her footsteps; there are a lot of endearing scenes that depict the friendship and ally ship between the two girls, but (unsurprisingly), it’s the adults that mess things up. Tian Tian and her heroin addict father (Zhou You) live in the home of Fang Di’s parents, right above their fabric factory and we gather that as long as business is good, everyone gets along. So much of the family dynamics is left unsaid and only projected onto the toddler characters, but still enough to paint the picture of a dysfunctional family. Qu’s storytelling is one of sincere brush strokes and having Peng Jing in the role of Fang Di’s selectively-attentive mother makes those memory scenes all the more effective.

The central issue in Girls On Wire is whether you can actually trade in the cards that have been dealt for you; can these two girls who, in their own way, make efforts to escape their toxic upbringing, succeed? Perhaps the most touching parts of the film revolve around the two cousins and how they reconnect after five years of no contact. Tian Tian is desperate, having escaped confinement after loan sharks came for her father’s debt, while Fang Di agrees to being exploited as a stunt double while all she really wants is to become an actress. There is one scene where she agrees to do a night-time shoot in the freezing cold river (on her period, nonetheless) and it’s heartbreaking to watch: not only does she desperately need the money, but also the complete lack of empathy exhibited by the director and production crew, who treat her like a puppet, rather than a real person, as they submerge her and pull her out of the water (on wires) repeatedly; somehow, the director is never satisfied with the take. 

At one point, a side character says that “people come to Film City to pursue their dreams,” but in Girls On Wire, there is little space for dreaming. For most of the film, it’s Tian Tian’s pride that prevents her from admitting that she herself wanted to “flee the nest,” but there is one long, fairly emotional monologue where she voices out the frustration of not pursuing education or a career, and since becoming a teenage mother, she fosters some resentment towards her cousin (or “sister” like they prefer to address one another). These are the moments that feel most authentic and poignant in the film, that stand out in comparison with the revenge drama subplot Girls On Wire goes to great lengths to develop. There is a group of henchmen chasing after the girls and most of the film’s second part conveys that chase (in fairly familiar thriller tropes and the occasional comic bits), but it somehow feels like this is not where the film’s heart is at.

The demand for self-sacrifice is what drives both protagonists, but mostly through their refusal to do so. One of them becomes prey to her father’s violently abusive behavior, while the other feels like she has to carry her whole family on her shoulders: as a breadwinner from a young age and now, as a savior for her cousin. Vivian Qu acknowledges the fluctuations in this frail relationship, but still, the film cannot avoid resorting to a resolution that is more punishing than forgiving. The subtlety of Angels Wear White is gone for good, but the many genre detours make Girls On Wire seem like more of a let-down than its predecessor.

Grade: C

This review is from the 2025 Berlin Film Festival where Girls on Wire had its world premiere. There is no U.S. distribution at this time.

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Savina Petkova

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