Cinema
Spring in a Small Town
小城之春
Fei Mu · 1948
Synopsis
In a small town in Jiangnan, in the aftermath of the war, Yuwen lives in the ruins of a large mansion with her husband Liyan, ill and dejected, whom she has never really loved, his young sister and an old servant. She walks alone on the ramparts. From Shanghai arrives Zhang Zhichen, a doctor, her husband's childhood friend and Yuwen's former love. His presence revives what she keeps silent, the young sister falls in love with him, and he hints to Yuwen that she could leave with him.
Context
The film was shot for Wenhua, short of money, with few resources, from a screenplay by Li Tianji. Yuwen's inner voice carries it through its first eighteen minutes. Judged rightist and reactionary, it was ignored after 1949; LaCinetek notes that it was not shown before 1980, and the China Film Archive made a new print of it in the early eighties. Tian Zhuangzhuang made a remake in 2002, and a stage adaptation was created in Beijing in 2015.
Who it is for
A film of an hour and a half, slow, with five characters; it can be seen in French as video on demand on LaCinetek.
Prizes and reception
Voted the best Chinese film of all time in 2005 by the Hong Kong Film Awards, at the top of their list of the hundred best films.
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