The film begins in Meinong with a long take of Yen soaking in blood as she cycles to a police station to turn herself in after murdering her abusive father to protect her mother Ai-Lee.
Befriending some classmates, she learns that their drama teacher's real job is as a "filial piety daughter", actresses hired by families to mourn at funerals.
Yen is contacted by a woman claiming to be her deceased father's mistress, who urges her to take care of her younger half-brother, Wei, as she must leave town for a month.
From uncollected letters left outside the mistress's home, Yen discovers the woman used to work at a community college and tries to inquire about her there, only to find out she resigned over a month ago.
Allie soon becomes overwhelmed with emotion, imagining herself talking to her deceased father at the funeral and expressing that she does not want to hate him or her mother but does not know how to move on without the hatred.
Also starring in the film are Hsieh I-le as Wei, Yen's younger half-brother;[1] Winnie Chang as Linda, Allie's drama teacher and funeral-mourning actress;[4] Elsie Yeh as Lee Ya-wen, the mistress of Yen's deceased father and the mother of Wei;[5] and Chang Chieh as Ko, a primary school teacher and Allie's drama classmate.
[6] Director-screenwriter Tom Lin Shu-yu had intended to collaborate with his wife and actress Kimi Hsia on a film project and conceived Yen and Ai-Lee for years,[7] but did not have the time or opportunity to develop the idea until the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
[13] Yen and Ai-Lee is Lin's first original screenplay, and Hsia contributed to fine-tuning it, as well as to pre-production and casting,[14][3] describing the film as "a project between the couple" and marking their first collaboration.
[4][17] He imagined the lead character as having two identities, an ex-convict and an acting understudy, with their traits drawn from Hsia's real-life experiences, including her relationship with her mother.
[8] The drama lesson scenes were inspired by Hsia's transition from hosting the variety show Stylish Man - The Chef (2008-2017) to taking acting classes to become a full-time actress.
[21][18] The film was shot by Indian cinematographer Kartik Vijay, who previously collaborated with Tom Lin Shu-yu on The Garden of Evening Mist (2019).
[26] Yen and Ai-Lee grossed only NTD$195,000 on its opening day, which lead actress Kimi Hsia described as "discouraging and disappointing".
[29][30] Nikki Baughan of Screen International praised Yen and Ai-Lee as a tragic tale that "benefits greatly from performances by Kimi Hsia and Yang Kuei-mei", noting that the "monochromatic visuals throw the emotion of the story into sharp relief" and effectively capturing the struggles and pain of healing a fractured mother-daughter relationship, with its black-and-white aesthetics, smooth editing, and warm production design further enhancing its emotional depth.
[1] Chang Wan-hsuan, writing for The News Lens, described the film as "unexpectedly good" and praised Kimi Hsia's performance in the drama lesson scenes as "Golden Horse Award-worthy", noting that it compellingly explores family trauma centered on domestic violence, engaging viewers despite its marketing revealing major plot points and ultimately highlighting the characters' profound emotional journeys as they confront their past and seek healing and redemption.
[32] Liang Hai-chiang of Yazhou Zhoukan also considered the film as a successful exploration of the mother-daughter relationship with a focus on domestic violence, acknowledging its uniquely modernized narrative and black-and-white cinematography, while noting that the first half feels somewhat thin compared to the richer, more intense second half, it still effectively portrays the complexities of Yen and Ai-Lee's emotional journey.