Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Dai Sijie
Liu Ye
Wang Suang Bao
Chen Kun
Xun Zhou
Chung Zhi Jun
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In the early 1970's during the later stages of China's "Cultural Revolution," two city-bred teenage best friends, Luo and Ma, are sent to a backward mountainous region for Maoist re-education. Sons of "reactionary intellectuals," the boys are required to perform arduous manual labor along with locals while under the supervision of the zealous village headman. Still they manage to find diversions. They save Ma's violin from destruction by claiming a Mozart lieder is actually a celebration of Chairman Mao. Because of their literacy, the headman sends them to a larger town to watch imported Albanian and North Korean communist melodramas, and then report back to the culture-starved locals. They embroider the stodgy plots with their own inventions and the villagers are entranced. During one of these trips, the two see and fall in love with the local beauty, the daughter of the most renowned tailor in the region. They never know her name, referring to her only as "the Little Seamstress," but she captivates them with her innocence and sensuality. When they discover a hidden suitcase filled with banned books by Western writers, mostly French-- Flaubert, Dumas and Balzac among them--they read these works to the Little Seamstress for hours on end in a secret meeting place. Thirsting for knowledge of the world beyond, she comes to love, in particular, Balzac and his characters. Eventually, Luo and the seamstress become lovers, but their romance comes to an abrupt end when he is recalled home and she finds herself pregnant. Changed by her "sentimental education," the Little Seamstress ultimately finds the courage to leave her village for wider horizons. In a bittersweet coda, many years later Luo and Ma, beneficiaries of China's economic gains and enjoying considerable professional success, meet and wonder about the Little Seamstress.
Director
Dai Sijie
Cast
Liu Ye
Wang Suang Bao
Chen Kun
Xun Zhou
Chung Zhi Jun
Wang Hong Wei
Ge You
Xia Yu
Crew
Fleur Augustin
Jean-marie Dreujou
Nicolas Duchemin
Lise Fayolle
Zoe Forget
Alice Godeau
Nicolas Harvard
Tong Huamio
Cao Jumping
Bernard Lorain
Nicolas Nacgelen
Nadine Perront
Wang Pujian
Philippe Rousselet
Berengere Saint-bezar
Dai Sijie
Dai Sijie
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
The Country of France
Released in United States Summer July 29, 2005
Released in United States August 26, 2005
Released in United States on Video April 17, 2007
Released in United States November 2002
Released in United States January 2003
Shown at Palm Springs International Film Festival January 9-20, 2003.
Released in United States Summer July 29, 2005
Released in United States August 26, 2005 (Los Angeles)
Released in United States on Video April 17, 2007
Released in United States November 2002 (Shown at AFI/Los Angeles International Film Festival (Asian New Classics) November 7-17, 2002.)
Released in United States January 2003 (Shown at Palm Springs International Film Festival January 9-20, 2003.)
