Peony’s Review for 2002 Chinese movie BALZAC AND LITTLE CHINESE SEAMESTRESS
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⭐How I found out about it
I discovered Zhou Xun from Ruyi Zhuan (those who know her know how terrific she is, and if you don’t you’ll discover once you see her acting, so I’ll restrain from fangirling rn haha) and on my way through her MDL profile, came across this. The title itself is the exact brand of eye-capturing which easily enticed me. Also it had Chen Kun, so this would be one of the 10(!) works they had done together. I didn’t hesitate to press play.

⭐What is it about
Two “bourgeois” boys are sent to be re-educated in a rural mountain village in China under Chairman Mao. The villagers have never seen things like alarm clocks, gourmet recipes, violins that they bring with them, and they are fadcinated at the same time condemning the outside world’s lofty ideals. The boys are put to hard work, and during free days they have to translate revolutionary themed North Korean movies to the villagers. The boys are gifted storytellers, and eventually the village is under their spell. They come to possession of a stack of forbidden foreign novels like Monte Christo, Madame Bovary, and retell the stories to the people without letting in on about the origin. One of my favorite lines in the movie: “That year, a Mediterranean breeze gushed through our mountain village.”
Soon it’s a question of whether the village is re-educating them or them the village 🤣
However the boys’ main desire is to educate the village girl they befriended, and the trio have a great time escaping into their Book Cave and daydreaming about Palaces, Frilly gowns and Sailors, one book at a time.
I will not spoil beyond that 😁

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See below for the review and link!
3
10

    ⭐Opinion, Review and Verdict
    First of all, VERY beautiful to look at. Shot in scenic mountains and dangerous rocky pathways, and all our actors looked so unpolished and so at-home, like they actually live there. The whole thing was very authentic and refreshing.
    There’s nothing I can say about acting except that it was perfect.
    The whole movie was consistent, evenly and well-paced, and a very solid watch. Old Cmovie industry is like on an entire different dimension than Cdramas in my opinion. Not a single one of the issues I had with Cdramas were there in the movies.
    One thing I really liked about this movie was that there was ample focus given to the most trivial things, and none of those were one-time things but continuously made reappearances throughout the movie. The alarm clock was a constant presence. The “Mozart Thinking of Chairman Mao” Sonata on Violin. And of course, the influence of books.
    My mom pointed out how this movie is a joint product with France and how it felt like a hidden agenda to say that fancy French ideals affected traditional Chinese peasants’ mind and made them freer haha. Honestly that felt a bit valid at the moment (or not, the movie is based on a novel) but there was something lot deeper than that discussed in the movie. The way I interpreted it was, how humans always idealise about the things and concepts they don’t have, for better or worse. I live in a relatively “free society” with no restrictions like that of communism, but my parents’ generation were obsessed with all the Soviet novels, Marx, Lenin and so on. Meanwhile the Chinese youth back then had longed for Paris.
    You could say that the boys changed the “ignorant” peasants for better. But by whose definition? Maybe they were better off without being “enlightened” by the boys? We can argue about this for hours but come to no conclusion. The only thing that is apparent is, that when you live a specific lifestyle with specific set of ideals for so long, trying to force change on them is going to lead to unexpected and drastic results at times, for noone is fully operating on their clearest mindset in the moment but rather the “Grass is greener on the other side” mentality.
    I felt like this was the theme that ran throughout the movie. Change. How change can influence you, and you influence the change in return.
    The whole movie was quite thought provoking but never in-your-face, and honestly quite delightful.
    I absolutely recommend.
    5/5 stars.
    ⭐Where you can find it
    It’s on YouTube, nicely subbed🎊🎉🎊🎉! Might not be the highest quality but it never mattered to me😄.
    https://youtu.be/KUySDK5cpy4
    Happy watching!

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    thank you for the review 🙂
    sounds like a nice movie ^^

    I remember the actress from one of AvenueX video, still haven’t watched Ruyi drama since the lead kinda is the villain in Yanxi that I liked a lot ^^’, it’d be interesting to watch both drama treating history from those characters different point of view, the question will I watch it this year ? is 2 years enough for another drama with that emperor I didn’t like x) ?

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      You are welcome!
      Yeah lol same
      Bidding time for Yanxi because the FL is the megavillain in Ruyi 😆

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    Thank you for sharing :). Sounds like my kind of movie.

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      Always🙂
      Been wanting to make a seperate post and tag, but now that I met you here I wanted ask you and @pakalanapikake and other King and The Clown fans, have you seen “Farewell my concubine” C movie?
      If not, I highly recommend. You’ll know why as soon as you read the synopsis.😁 Also, it’s excellent.

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        I haven’t seen ““Farewell my concubine” yet but I’ve heard good things about it.

        I’m really excited that my C-drama/movie list is growing.
        Thank you <3.

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        I hope paka is well, haven’t seen her on the fanwall in ages!

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          Same here. I miss her a lot. I wish I had any contact info to check on her.
          Here is hoping that our @pakalanapikake is doing well 🙏🏽.

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    Looks like an interesting movie, Peony! Thanks for the thoughtful review! I might check it out.

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      Yw!
      I think it’s the kind of movie you might like. You wouldn’t regret it (:

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