Maggie Li Lin Lin and Patra Au Ga Man in All Shall Be Well (Strand Releasing)

Melancholy and stoic in its worldview, and deliberate in its pace, the Hong Kong film All Shall Be Well packs a surprising punch. Director Ray Yeung lets details accumulate like nano-particles, creating a sense of relationships collapsing in this story of a lesbian dispossessed when her partner unexpectedly dies. The effect reverberates silently beyond its running time.

Pat (Maggie Li Lin Lin) and Angie (Patra Au Ga Man) make a contented pair. The sixty-something longtime lovers have prospered and installed themselves in a spacious apartment, no small feat in impossibly high-cost Hong Kong. Matter-of-fact dialogue during their social rounds reveal a strong network of friends and a supportive family, whom they generously cook for and entertain. Angie even provides an agony aunt’s ear to Pat’s nephew, who needs support in his not always successful pursuit of romance.

Life feels warm and rewarding until the unforeseen death of Pat, which like many turning points here, comes as a silence. The film handles the passing with restraint and empathy, not just for Angie but for us—we are as blindsided by Pat’s sudden absence as Angie is. The late woman’s family rallies around the bereaved survivor.

However, Angie’s position within the structure begins to shift, and the focus moves from grief to a power struggle. Pat’s brother stonewalls Angie’s questions about money and the apartment. His children first show staunch affection to the woman they call their “auntie,” but little by little their loyalty runs out. For the straitened family, the big apartment looks like something to want, then something to take. Promises become evasions or suggestions that Angie settle for less (and, it goes without saying, hopefully drift away). Family members refer matters to bureaucrats and murmur that decisions are out of their hands. The woman lawyer and old friend Angie finally consults is sympathetic, but handles her with the same wary, let-her-down-easy distance Pat’s relatives do. “I thought we were family,” says Angie in one of her few outright complaints. The lawyer’s expression alone tells her how wrong that supposition was.

All Shall Be Well is Angie’s story, yet the film tries to be evenhanded. Pat’s family is not cruel. They gradually waver as self-interest crowds out other considerations. Pat’s nephew confides his insecurities to Angie, and he does love her—but given the temptation of taking over the apartment, just not enough. And a family member offers that in this situation there is no right or wrong. Fair, if you believe it.

In an emotionally restrained film, a flashback provides a dramatic flourish. A romantically framed shot of Pat and Angie sharing a kiss evokes the great love the two shared and nurtured. It may also provide a semi-political subtext and a warning to gays and lesbians: Heterosexuals will always, always value and reward straight relationships over yours. Be warned.