Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl
| Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Joan Chen |
| Produced by | Alice Chen Joan Chen |
| Written by |
Geling Yan (novel) Joan Chen (screenplay) |
| Starring |
Li Xiaolu Lopsang Zheng Qian |
| Music by | Johnny Chen |
| Distributed by | Good Machine |
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Release date
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February 1998 (Berlin Film Festival) |
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Running time
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99 minutes (theatrical) |
| Country | China |
| Language | Mandarin |
Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (Chinese: 天浴; pinyin: Tiān Yù) is a 1998 Chinese film directed by actress Joan Chen set in the 1970s of the People's Republic of China, during the Cultural Revolution's Down to the Countryside Movement. This drama film is Chen's directorial debut. The film stars Li Xiaolu and Lopsang (Chinese: 洛桑群培).
Xiu Xiu (Chinese: 秀秀), a 15-year-old girl living in the city of Chengdu, moves out to study horses in the countryside with a nomadic Tibetan. She is told that after six months, she will return to take charge of her all-girl cavalry unit. Her only friend is the eunuch horseman, Lao Jin, who takes care of her while teaching her to herd horses. However, after the six months are up she quickly discovers that she is not returning.
As Xiu Xiu loses hope, she falls for the lies of a peddler who tells her he can get her out of the place, but does not return after having sex with her. Her innocence is slowly corrupted by a stream of men who use her only for sex, barely keeping up the conceit by telling her that they are able to get her back to her hometown. Lao Jin, emasculated and docile, can only watch in sadness as Xiu Xiu loses hope in the system and in herself. Xiu Xiu even starts to believe in the lies the men perfunctorily tell her, as she spitefully lectures Lao Jin that the men who come in the night and have their way with her are important men who can help her get back.
Xiu Xiu gets pregnant and has to go for a traumatic abortion in the hospital. The female doctors gossip about Xiu Xiu. After the operation, she gets raped by one of the patients, a man who shot himself in the foot to get handicapped benefits in the state-controlled economy. Lao Jin gets angry and assaults the rapist, but he is restrained by the other patients while the doctors make snide remarks about how Xiu Xiu enjoys being raped.
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