Bao Bao 2018 Movie Review

『The Weight of Love One Must Bear to Become a Family』

🎥 Film Overview

🎬 Title: Bao Bao (親愛的卵男日記, 2018)
🌍 Country: 🇹🇼 Taiwan
🎞️ Genre: Drama / Family / Queer
🗓️ Production & Release: Taiwanese independent production, 2018
📢 Director: Hsieh Ying-Chun
📺 Platform: Limited trailer available on YouTube, unofficial streaming accessible

👩‍💼 Cast: Emmie Rays (雷艾美) – Cindy Fang Rongxin
Ke Huan-Ru (柯奐如) – Joanne Hsu Jie-An

🧩 In-Depth Story Analysis (Spoilers)

🍼 “Egg Man (卵男)” — The Intersection of Gender and Desire

The film’s original Chinese title, “親愛的卵男日記” (Dear Egg Man Diary), contains a crucial conceptual metaphor encapsulated in the term “Luǎn nán (卵男)”.

• The combination of “Egg (卵)” and “Man (男)” symbolizes a biologically male figure deeply involved in birth and nurturing—roles traditionally assigned to women—representing a profound longing to create and sustain a family.

• This linguistic fusion challenges traditional gender roles, emphasizing that caregiving and parenting are not exclusively feminine domains. The film portrays the queer couple’s right to parenthood not as a romantic extension, but as a deeply existential desire to belong and to create life.

🌀 The Collapse of an Ideal Plan and the Loss of Trust

The story begins with two couples—a lesbian couple (Cindy & Joanne) and a gay couple (Charles & Tim)—agreeing on a shared parenting plan through IVF, where each pair would raise one child, representing a practical model of collaborative reproduction.

🧸 Miscarriage and the Birth of Ownership

This idealistic arrangement shatters when Cindy miscarries one of the two embryos. The tragedy transforms their shared dream into a tense debate over the “ownership” and responsibility of the surviving child. The miscarriage becomes both the symbol of a collective dream broken and the catalyst that exposes unequal emotional investments and vulnerabilities within the group.

🎲 Monetary Exchange and Escape

Amid the grief, a hidden truth surfaces: Joanne accepted money from one of the male partners without Cindy’s knowledge. Feeling betrayed and emotionally violated, Cindy decides to terminate the joint parenting plan in London and returns alone to Taiwan. Her departure embodies both a cry of despair (“Our love was tainted by money and secrets”) and the beginning of an isolated struggle to protect her child.

⚖️ Legal and Social Conflicts — Dilemmas Before Same-Sex Marriage Legalization

Cindy’s return to Taiwan marks not only a physical relocation but also a shift in the film’s tension—from personal betrayal to systemic injustice and institutional failure.

• Legal void in 2018 Taiwan: Set just before Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage in May 2019, the film reflects a time when the law offered no protection for same-sex families. When Cindy gives birth in Taiwan, Joanne and the gay couple cannot legally claim parental rights, creating a chasm between emotional and legal parenthood.

• Custody and belonging: Cindy asserts her right to raise the child alone in Taiwan, while her London partners argue for shared custody. The conflict over the child’s legal belonging intensifies, exposing how legal recognition—or the lack thereof—can determine the survival of queer families.

👩‍👧‍👦 Loss and Responsibility: Redefining What Family Means

Through miscarriage, betrayal, and legal coldness, “Bao Bao” confronts the fragility of love’s promises and the moral cost of creating a family outside traditional norms.

• Mature responsibility: Rather than offering a clear resolution about who ultimately raises the child, the film emphasizes care and accountability over possession. Joanne’s eventual journey to Taiwan to reconcile with Cindy becomes a symbolic act of reclaiming parenthood through love and devotion, rather than through law.

• Redefining family: Their fragmentation and pain ultimately illustrate that family is not defined by blood or legal frameworks, but by the persistent will to stay connected despite rupture. “Bao Bao” stands as a vital cinematic exploration of the queer parental experience in Taiwan—asking how love transcends law, geography, and social constraint to build something enduring.

🎯 Personal Rating

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥♥♥
⭐ Overall Rating: ★★★★★