FAQ

A young mother (Lingyu Ruan) in 1930s Shanghai (China) is forced to prostitute herself as the only way to provide for her infant son, whom she loves more than anything in her life. One night, while attempting to allude the police, she slips into the apartment of a fat gambler who calls himself 'Boss' (Zhizhi Zhang) and who lies to the police when they come looking for her. As payback, he rapes her and then considers her his property, moving in with her, stealing her earnings to fund his drinking and gambling, and using her son as a hostage. Even so, she manages to hide some of her earnings and uses them to send her son to be educated at a school so that he has a better chance at life...until the local parents complain about her disgraceful way of making a living.

Shennü translates as 'Goddess', but Shennu was also a euphemistic term for a prostitute, a woman who sells her body to men.

Shennü. titled 'The Goddess' for English-speaking markets, was written by Chinese film director Wu Yonggang.

When her son is expelled from the school, she decides to move away where no one knows them, but she discovers that the Boss has taken all of the money she hid away in the wall. She confronts him at his gambling spot and demands her money back, but he laughs at her and says that he already spent it. She loses her temper and hits him on the head with a bottle, killing him. She is then arrested for murder and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Her son is sent to an orphanage. She is visited by the school principle who is sympathetic to her situation. He offers to adopt and educate her son. She agrees, asking only that he explain to her son that his mother died and to never reveal who she is. In the final scene, she comforts herself thinking about her son's bright future.