Eighteen Springs (film)
| Eighteen Springs | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Ann Hui |
| Produced by | Ann Hui Jimmy Wang Yu |
| Written by | John Chan Kin-chung Eileen Chang (novel) |
| Starring |
Jacklyn Wu Leon Lai Anita Mui Huang Lei Ge You |
| Music by | Daniel Ye Xiaogang |
| Cinematography | Mark Lee Ping-bin |
| Edited by | Wong Yee-Shun Poon Hung |
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Release date
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1997 |
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Running time
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126 min |
| Country | Hong Kong China |
| Language | Mandarin |
| Budget | |
| Traditional | 半生緣 |
| Simplified | 半生缘 |
| Mandarin | Bànshēng Yuán |
Eighteen Springs (simplified Chinese: 半生缘; traditional Chinese: 半生緣; pinyin: Bànshēng Yuán) is a 1997 romantic drama directed by Ann Hui and starring Jacklyn Wu, Leon Lai, Anita Mui, Huang Lei and Ge You. It is a China-Hong Kong co-production, based on the novel of the same name by Eileen Chang.
The film depicts the ill-fated romance between two Chinese lovers in Shanghai and Nanjing during the 1930s and 1940s, which destined them to be apart for more than a decade. The film marked the second time Hui directed an Eileen Chang adaptation (the first was 1984’s Love in a Fallen City).
The novel was originally serialized in Shanghai’s Yibao (亦报) in 1950–1951. Chang published a revised version in 1969 in Taiwan, shortening the length of the lovers’ separation from 18 to 14 years and changing the title from 十八春 (Eighteen Springs) to 半生緣 (The yuan (affinity) of half a lifetime). Although the film's English title retains the original Chinese title, the Chinese title uses the revised title of the novel.
Gu Manzhen (Jacklyn Wu) is an educated girl, working in a Shanghai factory as a clerical assistant. Her elder sister Manlu (Anita Mui), who works as a nightclub hostess, supports her family. At the factory Manzhen meets two male former classmates, Xu Shuhui (Huang Lei) and Shen Shijun (Leon Lai), and the three become firm friends. Manzhen falls in love with the introverted Shijun, who hails from a wealthy family in Nanjing and is working in Shanghai because he does not want to inherit his father’s merchandising business.
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