Letter from an Unknown Woman (2004)
"Yi ge mo sheng nu ren de lai xin" (original title)

Peking, 1948. A winter night. A man returns home to find a letter awaiting him written by a woman before her death. in the letter she tells him the story of her love for him -a life-long ... See full summary »

Director:

Jinglei Xu

Writers:

Jinglei Xu, Stefan Zweig (novel)

Stars:

Jue Huang, Wen Jiang, Huang Jiao

4 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jue Huang	...	The Officer / Captain Huang
Wen Jiang	...	Writer / Mr. Xu
Huang Jiao	...	Officer Huang
Yuan Lin	...	Girl
Enran Ma	...	Stepfather
Xiaoming Su	...	Mother
Zihao Su	...	Son
Feihu Sun	...	Steward
Jinglei Xu	...	Woman / Miss Jiang
Baomo Zhang	...	Landlady

Storyline

Peking, 1948. A winter night. A man returns home to find a letter awaiting him written by a woman before her death. in the letter she tells him the story of her love for him -a life-long passion that has not diminished over time, but one that he has never known. her story spans 18 years from the moment she -then a 13 year-old girl- sets her eyes on her new neighbor. she tells their brief but passionate love in her youthi the hardship she goes through raising their child alone, and their final encounter after the war, during which the man fails tor ecognize her and one which leaves her in despair. Now having lost her son, she no longer has the courage to live on. Only in a letter is she capable of telling him everything, for the first and the last time. shaken by the letter, the man searches his memory for the nameless woman.

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Plot Keywords:

new neighbor | foreign language adaptation | illegitimate son | based on novel

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

China

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

4 March 2005 (China)

Also Known As:

Letter from an Unknown Woman

Box Office

Budget:

CNY 20,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Asian Union Film & Entertainment, Asian Union Film Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When the man brings the woman to his home in the "Six years later" segment (which takes place in the late 1930s), the woman brushes her hand against the spine of the second volume of the World Book Dictionary as she admires his books. The first edition of the dictionary was published in 1963.

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Connections

References Now, Voyager (1942)

User Reviews

It could be better...

Overall, it's a nice movie for Xu as her second movie as both the director and the leading actress. The adaptation is so natural that nobody would regard the story as a "non-Chinese" one. The music is great with Lin Hai, the outstanding composer. The sound of Pipa goes smoothly with the movie, typical Chinese which fits the time background. As for the actors...Well, here is by what I mean "it could be better". Jiang Wen isn't that suitable for this part as "the man", Xu Jinglei(the director herself) isn't mother-like enough for the part as "the woman". Some supporting roles are quite good, eg. the old servant... Voila.