Les filles du botaniste (2006)

Director:

Sijie Dai

Writers:

Sijie Dai (writer)
Nadine Perront (writer)

Release Date:

26 April 2006 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

At the house of a famous Chinese botanist teacher his daughter and a female intern fall in love with each other - a forbidden love that must be kept secret.

Plot Keywords:

Botanist | Intern | Forbidden Love | Trial | Father

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Mylène Jampanoï	...	Min Li
Xiao Ran Li	...	Cheng An
Ling Dong Fu	...	Mr. Chen
Wei-chang Wang	...	Dan
Nhu Quynh Nguyen	...	Headmistress
Nguyen Van Quang	...	Master Wang
Linh Thj Bich Thu	...	The Kitchen Lady
Phuong-Thanh	...	The Newspaper Seller
Tuo Jilin	...	The Judge
Dinh Xuang Tung	...	Police Officer #1
Vuong Trach Vu	...	Police Officer #3
Drieu Van Chau	...	Waitress
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chu Hung	...	Man Cage
Yang Jun	...	Bird-catcher
Lê Tung Linh	...	Man Dormitory

Also Known As:

Les filles du botaniste chinois (France) (working title)
The Chinese Botanist's Daughters (International: English title)

Runtime:

France:105 min

Country:

France | Canada

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Netherlands:6 | Japan:PG-12

Filming Locations:

Hanoi, Vietnam

Company:

Fayolle et Sotela Films

Serious disappointment

I was looking forward to this film but it was a big letdown. The best parts of the film (and why I give it as much as a 4) are; 1) The efforts of the two main actresses. They really tried but those efforts were wasted on the uninspired dialogue, directing and editing. 2) The physical beauty of the settings, sets and some of the lighting and atmosphere. Even here, we have to subtract the fact that the movie was obviously not filmed in China and did not do a good job of pretending to be in China. The success there was in this area was wasted on the problems itemized below.

The bad parts of the film were; 1) Almost no character development. Every character is uninteresting. The two men are nothing but self centred brutes with no other characteristics. There was not much more depth to the women. It was hard to develop a full sympathy for them. And that is too bad. The opportunity was there and the actresses were there to do it. 2) Uneven story progression. It frequently goes from scene to scene in a disjointed fashion. How much useful content was cut? This seems to want to be an artistic, lush film. So why not stretch it out to 120 minutes or more and do justice to the characters and the story? This might simply be the director's fault but the editors and producers might have played a part in that. 3) Thin story. Not much happens. Some films can get away with that, but here, we don't even get nicely drenched in what does happen. 4) Uninspired directing. We get neither a fully indulgent artistic film nor something brash and in-your-face nor any kind of satisfying balance thereof. To be fair, the director might have actually created the material for a better film which was then badly edited. Alternatively, maybe the diversity of the production crew prevented the film from having a clear identity. 5) Old hat, tired symbolism. I don't want to put in specific spoilers but suffice it to say that it was very obvious and hyper familiar. 6) Lost potential. It's just a shame when some good components and potential are lost.