Springtime in a Small Town (2002)

If I hadn't known upfront that this was a Chinese film, I would have sworn that it was a Japanese one.  The smallness of the action, the stillness of the composition, and even the idealised scenery were more than a little reminiscent of Ozu.  I guess I am used to Chinese pictures which are either lushly historic or modern-day dramas as befits good communist movie-makers.  I would guess that this film was set some time after the end of World War II and concerned a sickly man, his slightly estranged wife, his young sister and an old retainer whose lives brighten when an old friend, now a doctor, comes to visit.  Apparently he and the wife knew each other some ten years earlier and an attraction still burns.  But nothing whatsoever is allowed to transpire.  The husband suspects all is not well and tries to kill himself; the doctor saves him, the wife is glad, and the doctor leaves.  Had this been based on some famous novel I could understand its provenance, but it wasn't -- so the motive for this tale remains unclear.