Summer Palace (2006)
- Original title
- 颐和园
- Directed by
- Lou Ye
- Genre
- drama film, romance film, coming-of-age film
- Country
- People's Republic of China
- Runtime
- 2h 20m
- Rated
- 18
- Rating
- 7.3 of 10 from 114 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
A young woman leaves her small town to study at a university in Beijing. She starts a passionate romance with a fellow student as political protests unfold around them. Over the following years, the couple and their friends struggle with lost ideals and changing lives.
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What happens
Summer Palace (simplified Chinese: 颐和园; traditional Chinese: 頤和園; pinyin: Yíhé Yuán) is a 2006 Chinese romance film and the fourth feature film by director Lou Ye. The film was a Chinese-French collaboration produced by Dream Factory, Laurel Films, Fantasy Pictures and Sylvain Bursztejn's Rosem Films. It was made in association with France's Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères and Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC). The film deals with a young student played by Hao Lei who leaves her small hometown to study at the fictional "Beiqing University" (an homage to Peking University). There she meets a fellow student and begins an intense romantic relationship in the backdrop of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. The film also follows the eventual disillusionment of these young idealists after the crackdown, as the years progress through the 1990s and into the 2000s (decade). The film is named after the Summer Palace located in Beijing. The film is the first from mainland China to feature the full-frontal adult nudity of both its male and female leads, though earlier films such as Xiao Wu (1998), Lan Yu (2001), Green Hat (2003), and Star Appeal (2004), have featured full-frontal adult male nudity. Summer Palace's sex scenes and political undertones made the film tinder for controversy in China, leading both the director, Lou Ye, and his producers into conflict with China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT). After screening Summer Palace in the 2006 Cannes Film Festival without government approval, the film was placed under a de facto ban in Mainland China, and its filmmakers officially censored. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
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Lai xiao zi (Walking on the Wild Side) (2006)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.