Plot Summary for
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002) More at IMDbPro »Xiao cai feng (original title)

An easy movie to misinterpret. Despite stunning scenery of 'Phoenix Mountain' flooded by recent damn construction in Chongqing, expect to learn very little here. The real surprise is perhaps a refusal in the PRC to allow release. Why? Here two students forced into hard labor during the cultural revolution remain adolescent characters from start to end, cardboard cutouts who lie for personal benefit. Unable to work in the copper mines or carry fertilizer for crops, they prove themselves by retelling Korean movies to the villagers and playing violin. Balzac is only an excuse for having sex with the illiterate daughter of the village's richest man, who is a tailor. They refuse an offer to learn his trade; after an abortion she exiles herself to Shenzhen and then Hong Kong. Many years later the two men meet again. Both have tried searching for the seamstress without success. Like the off screen action described above, it never becomes clear why they have looked for her. One has become successful, a dentist. The other left China and continued a career in music. Dreamily they reminisce about the problems they caused in their youth without having matured. They seem indifferent and uncaring. But with the village gone the whole tragedy may be forgotten someday. Written by em4don2x@live.com

In 1971 China, in the lingering grip of the cultural revolution, two university students, Luo and Ma, are sent to a mountain mining village as part of their reeducation duty to purge them of their classical western oriented education. Amid the backbreaking work and stifling ignorance of the community, the two boys find that music, and the presence of the beautiful local young women are the only pleasant things in their miserable life. However, none compare to the young seamstress granddaughter of the local tailor. Stealing a departing student's secret cache of forbidden books of classic western literature such as the works of Honore de Balzac, they set about to woo her and teach her things she had never imagined. In doing so, they start a journey that would profoundly change her perspective on her world and teach the boys about the power of literature and their own ability to change their world in truly revolutionary ways. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)

In 1971, in the China of Mao Tse Tung, the two university students Luo (Kun Chen) and Ma (Ye Liu) are sent to a mountain mining village with very ignorant peasants and also a Maoist rehabilitation camp, to be reeducated. Both fall in love for the illiterate granddaughter of the local tailor, called "little seamstress". They become friends, and Luo and Ma steal forbidden books of western literature, and while they read the books and teach the little seamstress, they also tell the story to the community and play classical music in the violin, developing and improving their lives. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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