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Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (simplified Chinese: 巴尔扎克与小裁缝; traditional Chinese: 巴爾扎克與小裁縫; French: Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse Chinoise) is a 2002 Franco-Chinese romance drama film with dialogue in the Sichuan dialect directed by Dai Sijie and starring Zhou Xun, Chen Kun and Liu Ye. It premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May. Based on the 2000 semi-autobiographical novel of the same title by Dai, the film revolves around two young Chinese boys of bourgeois background who were sent to a remote village in Sichuan province for three years of re-education during the Cultural Revolution. They both fell in love with a beautiful local girl, granddaughter of an old tailor and known to everyone as the Little Seamstress. During those years of intellectual oppression, the three found solace and liberation in a collection of banned translated novels by Western authors, among whom their favourite was Balzac. The film explores the themes of youth, love, and freedom in those dark times in China.
Original Release
10/09/2002
US Release
10/09/2002
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Xun Zhou | Little Chinese Seamstress / Little Seamstress |
Ye Liu | Ma / Ma Jianling |
Kun Chen | Luo / Luo Min |
Shuangbao Wang | Head of the Village |
Zhijun Cong | Old Tailor |
Hongwei Wang | Four Eyes |
Xiong Xiao | Mother of Four Eyes |
Zuohui Tang | Old Mill Worker |
Wei Chen | Wife of the Head of the Village |
Tianlu Chen | Director of the Commune |
Directors
Writers
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Xun Zhou | Little Chinese Seamstress / Little Seamstress |
Ye Liu | Ma / Ma Jianling |
Kun Chen | Luo / Luo Min |
Shuangbao Wang | Head of the Village |
Zhijun Cong | Old Tailor |
Hongwei Wang | Four Eyes |
Xiong Xiao | Mother of Four Eyes |
Zuohui Tang | Old Mill Worker |
Wei Chen | Wife of the Head of the Village |
Tianlu Chen | Director of the Commune |
Qing-yun Fan | Doctor |
Jie Min | Peasant |
He Zhang | Peasant |
Yukun Xu | Peasant |
Lina Mei | Female Villager |
Jing Fang | Female Villager |
Li Peng | Female Villager |
Heng Fei Zhao | Female Villager |
Yao Liu | Female Villager |
Yulin Chen | Female Villager |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Bernard Lorain | Executive Producer |
Pujian Wang | Executive Producer |
Zhebin Wang | Executive Producer |
Lise Fayolle | Producer |
Editors
Year | Type | Category | Won |
---|
2003 | Golden Globe | Best Foreign Language Film | Nominated |