大纲

*Do You Know?* — Film Story Outline

Genre: Urban psychological drama / Emotional narrative / A truthful portrait of mental illness
Setting: Hong Kong × Taipei

【Story Concept】
*Do You Know?* is an urban emotional film built upon the underlying structure of psychological illness. It tells the story of two adults living in different cities under different structures of psychological pressure—how, within a blurred emotional relationship, they draw closer to one another and yet miss each other in turn. It is not that they do not love; it is that neither can hold the other's fragility.

【Character Settings】

■ Yip Yeung (Jason) ｜ 40, Hong Kong

Occupation: Slashie — psychotherapist × wine lecturer × audio content creator

Medical history: Previously suffered from moderate bipolar disorder (Type II) and mild anxiety, currently stable and managed

Personality: Outwardly sunny and gentle, skilled at listening and guiding others; inwardly carries excessive self-negation and anxious expectations around intimacy

Traits: Uses helping others to offset an inner void; fiercely desires to be needed yet suppresses expression of that need

■ Lam Yan-sum (Candy) ｜ 30, Taipei

Occupation: Second generation of a family lifestyle brand, responsible for operations and brand transformation (carrying both legacy responsibility and pressure)

Condition: High-functioning depression plus situational anxiety, erupting particularly under familial stress

Personality: Outwardly poised and sociable, yet emotionally sealed off—she dares not rely on others, habitually processing inner fractures through rationality

Traits: A powerful need for self-control; an extreme fear of losing control that leads her to refuse excessive closeness in relationships

【Story Summary】
After clashing with her family over the brand transformation, Lam Yan-sum breaks down sobbing in her Yangmingshan residence that night—yet the next day, she attends the platform's offline networking event as if nothing had happened, once again projecting an image of confidence and composure. During the event, she meets Yip Yeung from Hong Kong, and the two connect over shared ideals and their mutual sharpness of emotional observation. She projects an iron grip of control, but the audience already knows her inner self is exhausted. Meanwhile, Yip Yeung, back in Hong Kong, attends a routine follow-up with his therapist, who warns him: "You always get others to believe you're fine, but you're still draining yourself."

The two begin exchanging messages and voice notes, gradually building a blurred yet intimate emotional pattern. Yip Yeung repeatedly flies to Taipei on his own initiative to attend her brand events, his care for her deepening step by step. He sees her resilience, and with keen sensitivity senses the unease beneath it. As for her, she wavers between dependence and defensiveness toward him.

In the middle section, Lam Yan-sum loses control emotionally during a family meeting—rarely, she argues with her father—yet afterward steadies herself and attends a dinner as if composed. That night, she sits alone in the warehouse, hands trembling, forcing back tears, her eyes vacant. This becomes the turning point where the audience grasps the true state of her "high-functioning depression."

A few weeks later, Yip Yeung returns to Taipei, and the two spend the night of her birthday together. He intends to confess his feelings, but the exhaustion and distance in her eyes silence him. He chooses instead to hold her, saying nothing. The next day, she tells him: "Thank you for not saying it out loud last night." He simply smiles and nods.

One night back in Hong Kong, Lam Yan-sum is in the middle of a livestream. She introduces a new product to the camera—steady pace, focused expression. Suddenly her phone vibrates. She glances down. A voice message from Yip Yeung.

She doesn't open it. She just stares at the screen for a few seconds. Her breathing audibly grows heavier; her voice turns slightly unsteady. Her assistant notices something is wrong and whispers, "Want to cut it short?" She nods. The livestream is hastily ended.

The screen cuts to the stream shutting down, a black screen, and subtitles begin to surface:

"Do you know? I've truly always been here...
It's just... I was afraid you'd think I was here to take something from you.
So this time I didn't ask again, I didn't keep waiting, and I won't disturb you...
If one day you feel you no longer need to be that strong, that strong...
You'll know that there is someone who has always remembered your quietest side."

That voice message, for Yip Yeung, is a considerate retreat; for Yan-sum, it is a gentle ending. A tear slips from the corner of her eye. She never plays the message, never replies. Their silences pass each other by, and in the end, they become what was missed.

【Themes and Style】

Theme: Urban loneliness; the misaligned emotional connection of two people with mental illness mirrored in one another

Contrast: Hong Kong's high-pressure fast pace vs. Taipei's slow-burning, repressed familial obligation

Narrative pacing: Slow buildup; psychological details unfolding layer by layer

Structural emphasis: The plot is not driven by events, but by the characters' inner fluctuations carrying the rhythm of the entire film

【Core Philosophical Lines】

He healed so many people—yet no one knew he was also saving himself.

She fulfilled so many people—yet no one ever asked if she wanted to stop.

They didn't not love each other; they simply didn't know how to let one another in.

Before we ever learned to say "I'm fine," we had already stopped being fine.

Sometimes, the gentlest goodbye is the other person's deepest misunderstanding.