NUAN

Skilfully shot, a film which is emblematic of nostalgia for youth and lost innocence. After a ten year absence, Lin Jinghe returns to his birthplace where he has a chance but feared meeting with a young girl, Nuan, bringing back a whole chain of painful and intense memories. This encounter also triggers a feeling of regret for that which could have been, but never actually was. Nuan, a beautiful girl, is perversely innocent yet uneasy and emotional, the one who everyone was in love with and jealous of. It seemed as if she had the world at her feet, but she is still there in that little village. She seems to have given up any hope for the future. Her will to live has been turned into some sort of resigned indifference, first as the result of unfulfilled love and then by an accident which disabled her. She ends up getting married to the deaf-mute of the village, the only person from her past who she was frightened of rather than admired by. She leads a hard life, brightened only by the liveliness of her young daughter. Lin Jinghe wants to help Nuan since he is deeply troubled by his feelings of guilt for not having loved her enough. He becomes involved in a complicated relationship with Nuan and her unusual family, a relationship which is ambivalent, sometimes verging on dangerous. The film was shot in the heart of southern China among luxuriant scenery which takes your breath away. It manages to be spectacular without falling into the trap of being picturesque. Huo Jianqi, with ever-increasing certainty, uses all the devices available in the cinema to provide a story which is told in a romantic way, but still firmly tied down to reality. He is helped in this task by Sun Ming’s skilful photography and by Cui Ren’s set design. He had already worked with them in the earlier film Life Show. Nuan was the winner of the Best Film award at the 12th Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival.