{"id":61490,"date":"2026-06-17T18:50:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=61490"},"modified":"2026-06-17T18:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:50:21","slug":"review-palimpsest-the-story-of-a-name-movie-review-mary-stephens-riveting-study-of-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=61490","title":{"rendered":"Review | Palimpsest: The Story of a Name movie review \u2013 Mary Stephen\u2019s riveting study of identity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/06\/16\/156234f7-2f2b-4cdb-836d-254cec91233f_9d3d6ea8.jpg?itok=jJ4vunvo&amp;v=1781582248\" \/><\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\"><strong data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa17\">4\/5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Best known for her numerous collaborations with French New Wave auteur Eric Rohmer, veteran Hong Kong-born editor and filmmaker Mary Stephen turns the camera on herself in <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">Palimpsest: The Story of a Name<\/em>, an absorbing and endlessly surprising documentary exploring her obscure heritage.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">For as long as she can remember, Stephen has encountered confusion, curiosity and discrimination because of her Western surname. Determined to uncover its origins once and for all, the 73-year-old, who has spent much of her adult life in Paris, delves deep into her own past.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Aided by extensive home-movie footage and intricately detailed journals compiled by her father, Henry Stephen, the filmmaker mounts an enthralling investigation that spans the globe, from Australia to Montreal and back to the place of her birth, Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"methode-html-wrapper oembed-wrapper e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"e2gky7d0 e1drg7e30 e1ciypty0 ehdmpxk0 css-1avyp1d e1hpd36k0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<div class=\"e1hpd36k3 css-79hwxn e1x11wau0\" data-qa=\"SCMPYouTubeVideoFooter-VideoTitleContainer\"><default:svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"25\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 25\" fill=\"none\" data-qa=\"SCMPYouTubeVideoFooter-StyledVideoRecorder\" class=\"css-1nnwg93 e1x11wau1\"><default:path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M22 6.22926V18.4315L17.5463 13.9868V17.8655C17.5463 18.1618 17.4383 18.4248 17.2228 18.6531C17.0067 18.8829 16.7498 18.9967 16.4537 18.9967H3.13414C2.80989 18.9967 2.53968 18.8829 2.32425 18.6531C2.10808 18.4248 2 18.1618 2 17.8655V6.79519C2 6.49893 2.10808 6.23665 2.32425 6.00688C2.53968 5.77858 2.80989 5.66333 3.13414 5.66333H16.4537C16.7498 5.66333 17.0067 5.77858 17.2228 6.00688C17.4383 6.23665 17.5463 6.49893 17.5463 6.79519V10.674L22 6.22926Z\" fill=\"#001246\"\/><\/default:svg><\/p>\n<p>\u300a\u96b1\u8e5f\u4e4b\u66f8\uff1a\u91cd\u5beb\u81ea\u6211\u300bPALIMPSEST: THE STORY OF A NAME\uff5c\u9999\u6e2f\u7248\u6b63\u5f0f\u9810\u544a\uff5c6\u670818\u65e5 \u5168\u6e2f\u737b\u6620<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">As the film opens, Mary Stephen acknowledges that she was born the same year as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, an event celebrated with much pomp, ceremony and bewilderment in the then-British colony.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Audiences are treated to numerous sequences depicting Hong Kong from a bygone era, from cricket pitches in Central to hillsides adorned with rickety slums. Stephen\u2019s life was, from her earliest memories, perpetually intertwined with, and defined by, colonisation and immigration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/entertainment\/article\/3357233\/palimpsest-story-name-movie-review-mary-stephens-riveting-study-identity?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>4\/5 stars Best known for her numerous collaborations with French New Wave auteur Eric Rohmer, veteran Hong Kong-born editor and filmmaker Mary Stephen turns the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[4027,6202,1543,24913,28,13985,24914,1199,4118],"class_list":["post-61490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-identity","tag-mary","tag-movie","tag-palimpsest","tag-review","tag-riveting","tag-stephens","tag-story","tag-study","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}