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Eighteen Springs

Original title: Ban sheng yuan
  • 19971997
  • 2h 6m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
473
YOUR RATING
Leon Lai and Chien-Lien Wu in Eighteen Springs (1997)
DramaRomance
In 1930s Shanghai, a young office girl falls in love with a factory worker in the same company.In 1930s Shanghai, a young office girl falls in love with a factory worker in the same company.In 1930s Shanghai, a young office girl falls in love with a factory worker in the same company.
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
473
YOUR RATING
    • Ann Hui
    • Kin Chung Chan
    • Eileen Chang(novel)
  • Stars
    • Leon Lai
    • Chien-Lien Wu
    • Anita Mui
    • Ann Hui
    • Kin Chung Chan
    • Eileen Chang(novel)
  • Stars
    • Leon Lai
    • Chien-Lien Wu
    • Anita Mui
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 4User reviews
    • 7Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Photos125

    Anita Mui in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    Leon Lai and Chien-Lien Wu in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    Lei Huang, Leon Lai, and Chien-Lien Wu in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    Annie Wu in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    Anita Mui in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    Anita Mui in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    Chien-Lien Wu in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    Leon Lai and Annie Wu in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    Annie Wu in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    Chien-Lien Wu in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    Leon Lai in Eighteen Springs (1997)
    You Ge in Eighteen Springs (1997)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Leon Lai
    Leon Lai
    • Shen Shijun
    Chien-Lien Wu
    Chien-Lien Wu
    • Gu Manzhen
    Anita Mui
    Anita Mui
    • Gu Manlu
    You Ge
    You Ge
    • Zhu Hongcai
    Annie Wu
    Annie Wu
    • Shi Cuizhi
    Lei Huang
    Lei Huang
    • Xu Shuhui
    Zhiwen Wang
    Zhiwen Wang
    • Yu Jin
    Qi Chen
    • Manzhen's grandmother
    Lian Duan
    • Shuhui's father
    Jun Jiang
    • Shijun's father
    Changwei Liu
    • Fang Yipeng
    Jing Lu
    • Wen Xian
    Yunfang Wu
    • Manjing's mother
    Haohong Xu
    • Ah Bao
    Yindi Zhang
    • Shijun's mother
    • (as Yin-Tai Chang)
    Manfang Zhu
    • Shuhui's mother
    Yaying Zhu
    Yaying Zhu
    • Elder sister-in-law
      • Ann Hui
      • Kin Chung Chan
      • Eileen Chang(novel)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Although she spoke the language, this is the first and only film in which all of Anita Mui's lines were done in Mandarin.
    • Connections
      Version of Affair of Half a Lifetime (2003)
    • Soundtracks
      Half Life Fate
      Music by Kuo-lun Huang

      Lyrics by Xi Lin

      Performed by Leon Lai

    User reviews4

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Story of doomed love, subtly told
    I had heard this film described as a 'Chinese Gone With the Wind' and saw it as part of a 'Hong Kong Melodrama' season. Both these labels do the film an injustice, since it is quite an intimate character study and not just a sweeping epic. Lamentably, the film will probably only have this limited release in the UK.

    Firstly, just a quibble: although my Cantonese is minimal, isn't this film mostly in Mandarin? Also, the subtitles were terrible in terms of spelling and grammar, making some scenes a bit difficult to follow and others unintentionally hilarious. Is there no way of getting these subbed before export of the prints?

    The story, essentially the problems that beset a young couple in Shanghai in the Thirties, is told without recourse to cliched situations and dialogue and the cinematography is beautiful. I did wonder about the heroine's modern look, but this was a minor consideration. The atmosphere of the lives of working people in what was the most modern city in China is successfully captured and the niceties of Chinese culture thoughtfully portrayed.

    This is definitely not an action film, even in terms of a backdrop of dramatic battle / war scenes. Fans of Zhang Yimou will enjoy the stately pace of the narrative, which conveys something of the inevitability of the fate of the main characters. The music, too, is haunting, and not intrusive. Definitely worth considering if you want to lose yourself in an elegaic film about the subtleties of a relationship conducted in a world of cruel financial and moral realities.
    helpful•1
    0
    • Alli-5
    • May 10, 1999

    Details

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    • Release date
      • September 12, 1997 (Hong Kong)
      • Hong Kong
      • China
      • Mandarin
    • Also known as
    • Production companies
      • China Film Co-Production Corporation
      • Mandarin Films Distribution
      • Tianshan Film Studio
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 2 hours 6 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby Digital

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