By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.25
Director: Sijie Dai
Starring: Kun Chen | Shuangbao Wang | Xun Zhou | Ye Liu
Original language title: Balzac et la petite tailleuse Chinoise
Country: china, france
Year: 2005
Running time: 110
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291032/combined
Scot says: ” The novel of Balzac has been making the rounds of book clubs lately, so to be honest, I was kind of prepared for this to be a let down. Often, when a book or a film is loved by all sorts of different people, I’m on the lookout for mediocrity and cheap, sentimental shorthand. And for the most part, that’s what Balzac delivers.
“Yet another twist on the Pygmalion myth, Balzac tells the tale of two young suspected Chinese dissidents in 70’s China who are sent to a village to be ‘re-educated’ through community service. Here, the men both fall in love with a peasant seamstress who they educate themselves using western (and illegal) literature.
“The mountain setting for the film is certainly stunning, so the film is beautiful to look at. Beyond this, though, the film seems fairly trite, reinterpreting the moral of the Pygmalion entirely. Where Shaw realizes that the error of ‘playing dolls’ with a real person is Higgins’ flaw, Balzac assumes that western education is in itself essential and the fault lies with women because, once educated, they will not be content to remain with their masters. I would be tempted to lay the blame for this misogyny on the author of the novel (which I never read), but the message is driven home in a cheesy reunion epilogue that I understand is not in the book.
“That said, I quite enjoyed the performance of the quieter man in the pair (Liu Ye) and the seamstress (Xun Zhou). Also, I was surprised to see Wang Shuangbao, one of the leads from the previous night’s BLIND SHAFT, in an amusing role as the village chief. 2.5 cats”
Michael says: Director Sijie Dai, who also wrote the best-selling novel upon which this film was based, was clearly telling a story close to his heart. Perhaps a little too close. At the height of the Cultural Revolution of China, two teenagers, best friends whose parents are intellectual radicals, are sent for re-education in the deep countryside. There they meet a beautiful young woman who is the tailor’s daughter. Above all, this is a romance, so while they teach the seamstress about the world by reading her great novels by Balzac and the like, they are also falling in love with each other. Cue the violins. What could have been devastating and powerful in the hands of Zhang Yimou should play well to Oprah’s book group crowd. 2 cats”