颐和园 Yiheyuan Summer Palace

Changjinglu · Joined: 11 Aug 2006 Posts: 66 Location: London

Does anyone know when director Lou Ye's Summer Palace will
be released in London?

导演/Daoyan/director: Lou Ye 娄晔。
电影/dianying/film: Summer Palace. 颐和园。

Review from the internet below:

“Remarked by film buffs thanks to his second feature film Suzhou River in 2000, Chinese director Lou Ye came to the Festival de Cannes three years later for the presentation in the Official Section of his third opus Purple Butterfly, focusing on the Sino-Japanese conflict in the 30's. He is back again this year on this first day of competition, with Summer Palace, an ambitious work which, like his preceding film, blends the torments of the heart with those of history. But this time, the ardent passion which unites the two lead characters, Yu Hong and Zhou Wei, is put into peril by very recent events: the student uprising of 1989.

"What I wanted to say is that personal feelings are more complicated. Exterior chaos is more easily resolved," explains the filmmaker. Concerning the revolt of 1989, Lou Ye adds: "It was the first time that China opened up to the outside world, after a long period of containment. Young people soaked up all kinds of new ideas all at once. It was the beginning of a period of reform and students had the feeling they were freer than their predecessors had been and that they could virtually do everything and anything. Today, we know that it was merely an illusion."

Julia · Guest

It is censored in China and seems very difficult to find in London, not even DVDs.

Changjinglu · Joined: 11 Aug 2006 Posts: 66 Location: London

I see.
真可惜。