The Little Chinese Seamstress

(Balzacet la petite tailleuse chinoise) (2002)

Director: Dai Sijie

Screenwriter: Dai Sijie / Nadine Perron

Starring: Zhou Xun / Liu Ye / Chen Kun / Wang Shuangbao / Cong Zhijun / Wang Hongwei / Xiao Xiong / Chen Wei

Genre: Drama / Romance / Biography Production

Country/Region: Chinese mainland / France

Language: Chinese / French

Release Date: 2002-10-09

Runtime: 110 minutes / 116 minutes (Cannes Film Festival)

Also known as: The Little Seamstress / The Little Chinese Seamstress / Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise IMDb: tt0291032 Plot Summary: In the 1970s in China, the educated youth Luo Ming (played by Chen Kun) and Ma Jianling (played by Liu Ye) went to a small mountain village in western Hunan for re-education by the poor and lower-middle peasants. However, the impoverished life in the countryside gradually made them feel bored. They met the village's little seamstress (played by Zhou Xun), whose lively and cheerful nature brought light to their stagnant lives. They also discovered a box of so-called "forbidden books." From then on, their only joy in life was secretly reading the books inside—the novels of Balzac. The forbidden book suddenly opened up the world of fantasy for the teenager and the little tailor. Slowly, both of them fell in love with the little tailor, and their love was burning more and more fiercely.