Shallow

Beijing, winter 1990. Song and his girlfriend Xiao Qing have just moved into a hovel which they're illegally renting since they are not officially married. Song, a young chemistry graduate, is appointed to a position in a small engineering factory where he demonstrates a marked lack of enthusiasm. As for Xiao Qing, she is still a student, studying French. But their joy at living together and the idea of building a little island of happiness cannot withstand the weight of reality.

Hong spent ten years in prison for killing her husband. Thanks to her contribution to the prison art workshop, she receives an unexpected opportunity to reduce her sentence. Her son, Lele, was raised by his grandmother and was never prepared to live with his mother. After their reunion, Lele always treats her coldly. Faced with a lonely grandmother who longs for Lele to return to her and a society that treats ex-convicts poorly, can Hong escape her invisible prison and regain happiness?