A couple of months ago, we noted how it’s been a seriously underwhelming year for Chinese-language cinema – an assessment that stands despite the recent release of Berlinale-winner Crosscurrent. Well, turns out the Middle Kingdom might have a year-end surprise or two up its sleeve after all. Having scored a Fipresci prize at Toronto and the prestigious Golden Seashell at San Sebastián, I Am Not Madame Bovary is a healthy return to form for veteran director Xiaogang Feng that, while not exactly hitting the ball out of the park, delivers a genuinely funny, slyly observant diagnosis of contemporary China complete with lush, absurdist flair.
The many cultural references that give a societal satire like this its texture but inevitably get lost in translation begin with the title. Instead of Flaubert’s world-known creation, it’s actually Pan Jinlian that our heroine Li Xuelian (played by Bingbing Fan) denies of being.
The many cultural references that give a societal satire like this its texture but inevitably get lost in translation begin with the title. Instead of Flaubert’s world-known creation, it’s actually Pan Jinlian that our heroine Li Xuelian (played by Bingbing Fan) denies of being.
- 11/16/2016
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
The film marks the second collaboration of director Feng Xiaogang, writer Zhenyun Liu (who actually adapts his own novel) and actress Fan Bingbing. The first one was “Cell Phone”, the latter’s debut, 12 years before.
In a story that reminded me much of Zhang Yimou’s “The Story of Qiu Zu,” the script revolves around Lian, a woman determined to face the whole judicial system, in order to find justice. The film starts with the story of Pan Jinlian, the Chinese version of Madame Bovary, a woman whose infidelity led to murder. The connection, however, is revealed later.
In the beginning of the story, Lian pleads to a judge, who is a distant relative, in order to revoke her divorce. She explains that the divorce was fake, as she and her ex-husband took it in order to to get a better apartment. However, her husband swindled her and actually married another woman,...
In a story that reminded me much of Zhang Yimou’s “The Story of Qiu Zu,” the script revolves around Lian, a woman determined to face the whole judicial system, in order to find justice. The film starts with the story of Pan Jinlian, the Chinese version of Madame Bovary, a woman whose infidelity led to murder. The connection, however, is revealed later.
In the beginning of the story, Lian pleads to a judge, who is a distant relative, in order to revoke her divorce. She explains that the divorce was fake, as she and her ex-husband took it in order to to get a better apartment. However, her husband swindled her and actually married another woman,...
- 11/15/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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