:
Zhou Xun,
Chen Kun-chang,
Liu Ye,
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:
Dai Sijie
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Empire Pictures
: Foreign, Costume Drama/Period Piece, China
: 111 min.
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Dai Sijie directs Balzac et La Petite Tailleuse Chinoise (The Little Chinese Seamstress), a film adaptation of his own best-selling autobiographical novel. Set in China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1970s, the story follows Luo (Chen Kun) and Ma (Liu Ye), two young men from the city who are sent to a mountain village for a re-education in Maoist principles. They work with the peasants under the supervision of the village head man (Wang Shuangbao), who considers their violin to be a symbol of the bourgeoisie. Luo and Ma both fall in love with the little Chinese seamstress (Ziiou Xun), the daughter of the tailor (Chung Zhijun), and they read her forbidden works of Western literature including French writers Balzac and Dumas. The conclusion finds the two men reminincing about their experiences 30 years later. Balzac et La Petite Tailleuse Chinoise premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
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| A Movie To Make Balzac Proud
by talltale
January 8, 2006 - 8:15 AM PST
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4 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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Exotic and then some, the French/Chinoise BALZAC & THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS offers one of the more unusual time, place and characters in any film of the past few years: 1970s China, during the Red Guard cultural revolution. Unlike a movie such as "To Live," however, this newer one takes place in a gloriously beautiful mountain region where the impact of the Red Guards was lessened by the far-off location and the lack of sophistication of the indigenous people. Consequently, what happens to the two young men who arrive here from the city for re-education--and the lovely young seamstress they become involved with--is less extreme and costly in some ways, while more so in others.
I don't recall another film in which the introduction of art and culture to a people deprived of it has rung out with such resonance and joy. Its message applies as much to eastern as western civilizations, to Communist, socialist or capitalist societies: Force feed your people a diet of confined ideas and they will find a way to expand it--usually, and unsurprisingly, via art. The narrative is non-stop fascinating and pleasurable, and if it suddenly rushes ahead from the abilities and risks of youth to the concessions and compromises of middle age, it also manages to wrap around one more time toward a resolution that is both poignant and inevitable. This is among the richest of modern-day stories--and a "Don't Miss" for foreign film fans. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.12)
8 Votes
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