look folks it was a gud movie i mean yh they made alotta mistakes but so wat jus look at the fact tht it had alotta views sum ppl cried frum the deep emotions it brot n get over it ok srsly the movie aint point out yo flaws so dnt point out its thnk u very much damn ppl these days get on my nerves -.-
Want to see her happy again, she seems to be very stressful to be under spotlights these days...小冉，輕鬆些呀！事情總會淡化的。成名的代價實在太大了，這祗是普通人渴望的自由。請小冉開心生活吧，大家放過她。
The reality of homosexuality was discriminated in China during the 1980s but they don't get excuted for being that way. This film completely ruined it near the end and towards the end. I think the director was being a prick so he decided to create a ridiculously unrealistic ending scene because he's not allowed to film it in China. I was just enjoying the harmonious atmosphere of the film. Haii...disappointed..
I watched this movie and it made me cry a lot seriously. After watching it I felt depressed and worried. It's really based on reality u__u the horrible reality.
Obviously this movie's intended audiences are Westerners, so there are many stereotypical faults in the plots: 1. there is no death penalty for being gay/lesbian, 2. women enjoy more equality in China than other developed countries in Asia such as Japan or South Korea because of communist doctrine.
i cant remember the whole movie but i dont think they were punished for being lesbian lovers, they were punished because they were blamed for the death of the father(the botanist)
this movie is so untrue culturally. the director should have know chinese culture very well, but he deliberately twisted it for the purpose of selling this movie to the westerners.
1. china has never had a law to sentence gays/lesbians to death, let alone at the time the movie sets (around 1996), actually China rarely sentences a woman to death no matter what crime, let alone 2 for "crime".
2. it is impossible that a traditional chinese professor/father would burst out when he saw his daughter and daughter-in-law's bodies, because a man secretely watches a woman's naked body is considered unmoral, let alone its his own daughter and daughter-in-law's bodies. if he does, it is his own shame in the first, place, then his daughters' second. a normal person would never dare doing it.
3. a traditional chinese profassor would very very unlikely make his family scandle public like the way the movie does, because, again, it his own shame.
4. a chinese soldier is very well disciplined while in service. it is impossible that he would abuse his wife in the way the movie does, let alone his wife is an indipendent professional woman that enjoys no less respect than any woman in the world.
the list of this kind of "mistakes" can go on and on, you name it.
I am sure you are right, but you must remember that the movie is just that.... a movie. It is not intended to be a realistic depiction of what really happened in China. There is a similar movie from New Zealand (Heavenly Creatures) that also changes the story to make the movie more interesting. It is helpful, though, to have an insider's perspective about this movie. I really want more information about the true story that inspired The Chinese Botanist's Daughters.
unfortunately, many people who watched the movie, believed it was a true story, at least it is true against chinese politics and culture. this is also the director's intention, so he could attract more viewers from the west who always believe that china automatically does evil things no matter what and no matter how awful.
It is certainly true that the movie caused the original story to be twisted around... the fact that the movie has one of the main characters be half Russian (because the director, an expatriate living in France, so much wanted to cast half-French, half-Chinese actress Mylene Jampanoi in it, etc...). I think it is important to remember that the director made this movie FOR a Western audience, so of course it will have biases towards Western cultures take on the situation... It's not bad or good.
the majority of chinese are always shamed on homosexuality.lesbian have to face so much pressures.China is a traditional country.Westerner couldn't image it!people always cannot do nothing but waiting&bearing!
I hope you wouldn't mind all these outbursts of mine even before seeing the whole movie itself. I have decided not to see it at all owing to the others' adverse comments until after reading your reply just right now. I will try to find its DVD & view the whole movie to play fair. By the way, I have to say the piece of music you put up with this video here is unspeakably beautiful. It reminds me of the beautiful background music from 宮崎駿's films and I would appreciate your enlightenment :)
"love is innocent irrespective of sexes and deserves the society's tolerance and respect." You are quite right! I wish all people were tolarent like you! Anyway, I also think you should watch this movie:) You might find something new. Please let me know if you do. And thanks for kind comments on my vid! It made my day!
I'll definitely watch this movie. But afraid that it'll make me cry like hell as I feel like I'll be able to relate to it. Before I used to argue a lot in comments on this topic but then I left cause it's not easy to win with those people. They will never understand how it feels cause they have never been in a condition like this so it's absolutely impossible for them to think about it. Just like a person doesn't know how it feels to get burned if they have never got burned.
Hello, Pygamalion. I'm truly grateful to your detailed reply. To begin with, apart from the movie's bits and pieces I gathered from the web, I still haven't seen the movie yet. So, perhaps I'm not qualified to comment on its contents & details (to convict by relying on a dead man's words is even more flimsy ?).
However, I have no hesitation to express my dislike towards the overly sad ending of this movie. I'm not into homosexuality stuff but I firmly believe love is innocent irrespective of sexes and deserves the society's tolerance and respect.
At this moment, I still find it very doubtful towards the Director's intention behind. It seems that he had wantonly created on the screen something porno among the two pretty girls but then went on to strangle them in brutality through his hands (alternatively, perhaps he's only trying to pay a tribute towards Director Li An of Brokeback Mountain by naming the two girls as Li Ming and Chen An....haha).
FYI, it seems that the Director had also deliberately mixed up many historical events in China and brought them forward to the 80s or 90s. All these cast doubts as to what he was trying to sell to the Western world.
FYI, it seems that the Director had deliberately mixed up many historical events in China and brought them forward to the 80s or 90s. All these cast doubts as to what he was trying to sell to the Western world.
The West has a long and ignoble history of making a mess of Chinese names! I suppose that it's partly due to the fact that pictographic writing is open to misinterpretation.
the majority of chinese are always shamed on homosexuality.lesbian have to face so much pressures.China is a traditional country.Westerner couldn't image it!people always cannot do nothing but waiting&bearing!
Furtehr to my comment of yesterday, I have to admit that I haven't watched the movie yet nor have I done any research on it. I came across this movie on the web and Youtube by chance but my legal instinct immediately tells me something terribly wrong about this movie, i.e. sentence to death for breaching the law on homosexuality esp. on the lesbian relationship. Now I found that this movie's setting was supposed to be in China, not in Vietnam.
Most importantly, I found this on Wikipedia:-"Controversies:
....The death sentence of Ming and An was considered as impossible, as although homosexuality has be discriminated in China, people do not get executed because of that. And the judge's verdict reasoning "Due to their behavior, our country lost an excellent botanist, thus they must be punished" is totally ridiculous."
Sadly, such big mistake is very telling of the Director's sincereity towards the topic of homosexuality in making the film. It seems that with a view to copy the success of Brokeback Mountain, the Director seized the topic of homosexuality and distorted the truth to manipulate the audience's emotion. It's also just another example of serious prejudice & misunderstanding towards China.
Here's an extract of my post of yesterday: Is it really an offence in respect of homosexuality between women in Vietnam ? In English law, it's an offence to commit the act of buggery between men & homosexuality is against the law in that sense. Women can't possibly commit the act of buggery physically & lesbianism is not against the English law. ..cont'd
cont'd....Unlike homosexuality in men, there is simply no intercourse in a lesbian relationship and it's practically difficult to prove at court a lesbian relationship between females. How can a court of law come to a verdict of guilty simply by the intimacy between females or even the contact of two naked female bodies (many examples can be given)? It seems quite inconceivable by virtue of the Common law principals.
Hi, coldhotred! First of all, to reply to your question "Is it really an offence in respect of homosexuality between women in China?" I must say that there are no law concerning homosexuality in China. There are some countries which do not have definite law concerning homosexuality such as Japan(my country), Thailand... China is one of these countries. Still, I DON'T think "the judge's verdict reasoning is totally ridiculous."
Because Wikipedia sometimes tells us things different from the truth(did you checked the reference of it? it was cited from just a personal blog, not public one!) and I believe it was possible to happen in China at that time in the 1980s. The most important thing is, this film is based on the truth.
There is no law against homosexuality in China, but at the same time, that means there are no law to protect them from people's incalculable hatred toward two girls who have killed their father especially in the Asian male-dominated society. The director, Dai Sijie (He is Chinese), is the person who have been trying to show the truth inside his country and have dealt with ideological issues such as Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and so on.
And I have to emphasize that it is obvious he is truly sincere toward the topic of homosexuality taking his great effort into consideration. It was really hard to make this film in his country because Chinese government opressed him, so he had to move to Vietnam to shoot. Even now, this film isn't allowed to be released in his homecountry. I'm afraid to say, but even now, Chinese government tend to control thought like this, and in that sense, homosexuality is against the secret law in China.
You may still be wondering why the two girls were proved to be lesbian at court? Maybe you've missed that An's father has accused his own daughter of homosexuality before he died in a hospital? It might be difficult to understand his act maybe especially for Western people. But he couldn't bear his daughter to be against the ethics of his homecountry and decided it would be better for An to die rather than to live betraying her country. He loves his daughter so much, so he couldn't forgive her.
the most beautiful and saddest film ever....cried a river but worth the watch.
babyjones1111 1 month ago
They could have made the end better. i like the rubbing part dumb director had to ruin it.
Ducksonqrack 1 month ago
look folks it was a gud movie i mean yh they made alotta mistakes but so wat jus look at the fact tht it had alotta views sum ppl cried frum the deep emotions it brot n get over it ok srsly the movie aint point out yo flaws so dnt point out its thnk u very much damn ppl these days get on my nerves -.-
TheJasmine687 6 months ago
WHAT IDIOTS!! TO PUT SPOILERS IN COMMENTS & RUIN IT FOR EVERYONE ELSE! NOW IT DOESNT EVEN MAKE SENSE FOR ME TO WATCH THE MOVIE!!
bluepeas510 9 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
where i can see this?
MrZhima 1 year ago
Want to see her happy again, she seems to be very stressful to be under spotlights these days...小冉，輕鬆些呀！事情總會淡化的。成名的代價實在太大了，這祗是普通人渴望的自由。請小冉開心生活吧，大家放過她。
13JENLAM1 1 year ago
The reality of homosexuality was discriminated in China during the 1980s but they don't get excuted for being that way. This film completely ruined it near the end and towards the end. I think the director was being a prick so he decided to create a ridiculously unrealistic ending scene because he's not allowed to film it in China. I was just enjoying the harmonious atmosphere of the film. Haii...disappointed..
dlobrown8888 1 year ago 3
I watched this movie and it made me cry a lot seriously. After watching it I felt depressed and worried. It's really based on reality u__u the horrible reality.
OrigamiByJay 1 year ago
@OrigamiByJay ohmgeee i cried too T___T. why people gotta hate !!
siaopito13 1 year ago
Astounding music. I could swear that it has some Joe Hisaishi influence in it =)
XDereshiX 2 years ago
@XDereshiX
You're right, it is by Joe Hisaishi. The song is called Sheeta's Decision, from the movie Laputa Castle in the Sky.
Jadiies 1 year ago
@Jadiies Many thanks for the info. Joe Hisaishi is one of my favorite composers =)
XDereshiX 1 year ago
i don't know why, but i loved this movie.
pockydayxproductions 2 years ago
Comment removed
InnaGalaktyka 2 years ago
uh, hello... HOT!!!!
cuibono4life 2 years ago
Obviously this movie's intended audiences are Westerners, so there are many stereotypical faults in the plots: 1. there is no death penalty for being gay/lesbian, 2. women enjoy more equality in China than other developed countries in Asia such as Japan or South Korea because of communist doctrine.
gracehut 2 years ago 15
i cant remember the whole movie but i dont think they were punished for being lesbian lovers, they were punished because they were blamed for the death of the father(the botanist)
angelasf 2 years ago 6
戴思杰是成都人，川大历史系77级本科毕业，南开研究生未毕业即赴法国留学，转攻电影。他的电影只能打动西方人，却无法打动中国人，因为他故意歪曲中国文化和历史以迎合西方人。只想说，他毁了一个好题材，浪费了两个好演员。
laozhuang2 2 years ago
this movie is so untrue culturally. the director should have know chinese culture very well, but he deliberately twisted it for the purpose of selling this movie to the westerners.
laozhuang2 2 years ago 2
what is wrong about it? ... i got interested on that mistake you say ^^ could you please explain?
KrmillaKrstein 2 years ago
a lot of "mistakes"(if it is just mistakes).
1. china has never had a law to sentence gays/lesbians to death, let alone at the time the movie sets (around 1996), actually China rarely sentences a woman to death no matter what crime, let alone 2 for "crime".
laozhuang2 2 years ago 14
2. it is impossible that a traditional chinese professor/father would burst out when he saw his daughter and daughter-in-law's bodies, because a man secretely watches a woman's naked body is considered unmoral, let alone its his own daughter and daughter-in-law's bodies. if he does, it is his own shame in the first, place, then his daughters' second. a normal person would never dare doing it.
laozhuang2 2 years ago 8
3. a traditional chinese profassor would very very unlikely make his family scandle public like the way the movie does, because, again, it his own shame.
4. a chinese soldier is very well disciplined while in service. it is impossible that he would abuse his wife in the way the movie does, let alone his wife is an indipendent professional woman that enjoys no less respect than any woman in the world.
the list of this kind of "mistakes" can go on and on, you name it.
laozhuang2 2 years ago 8
oh thank you very much for the explanation... sounds pretty logical!
thank you <3
KrmillaKrstein 2 years ago
I am sure you are right, but you must remember that the movie is just that.... a movie. It is not intended to be a realistic depiction of what really happened in China. There is a similar movie from New Zealand (Heavenly Creatures) that also changes the story to make the movie more interesting. It is helpful, though, to have an insider's perspective about this movie. I really want more information about the true story that inspired The Chinese Botanist's Daughters.
dirtrock666 2 years ago 3
unfortunately, many people who watched the movie, believed it was a true story, at least it is true against chinese politics and culture. this is also the director's intention, so he could attract more viewers from the west who always believe that china automatically does evil things no matter what and no matter how awful.
laozhuang2 2 years ago 2
It is certainly true that the movie caused the original story to be twisted around... the fact that the movie has one of the main characters be half Russian (because the director, an expatriate living in France, so much wanted to cast half-French, half-Chinese actress Mylene Jampanoi in it, etc...). I think it is important to remember that the director made this movie FOR a Western audience, so of course it will have biases towards Western cultures take on the situation... It's not bad or good.
dirtrock666 2 years ago
戴思杰的第二部电影。
second film by the director Dai Sijie
pandasuicides 2 years ago
Comment removed
Coletje 2 years ago
really thank full to post this movie..this is really great story
maktaci 2 years ago
The trailer is moving enough, I can't wait to watch it!!!
suyuanhang 3 years ago
this looks like a really nice movie....
triniLes20 3 years ago
Know of any site where I can watch this?
ShutterBug717 3 years ago
Theres a couple people who've posted it on Youtube. I think one is on the top of the Related Videos list.
star0shadows 3 years ago
i don't think the ending is over sadly at all. as a chinese, i know it's the fact!
caoyu1018 3 years ago
i don't think the ending is over sadly any more. as a chinese, i know it's the fact!
caoyu1018 3 years ago
the majority of chinese are always shamed on homosexuality.lesbian have to face so much pressures.China is a traditional country.Westerner couldn't image it!people always cannot do nothing but waiting&bearing!
caoyu1018 3 years ago
Hi! Does anyone knows the name's song?
GravityGG 3 years ago
I hope you wouldn't mind all these outbursts of mine even before seeing the whole movie itself. I have decided not to see it at all owing to the others' adverse comments until after reading your reply just right now. I will try to find its DVD & view the whole movie to play fair. By the way, I have to say the piece of music you put up with this video here is unspeakably beautiful. It reminds me of the beautiful background music from 宮崎駿's films and I would appreciate your enlightenment :)
coldhotred 3 years ago
"love is innocent irrespective of sexes and deserves the society's tolerance and respect." You are quite right! I wish all people were tolarent like you! Anyway, I also think you should watch this movie:) You might find something new. Please let me know if you do. And thanks for kind comments on my vid! It made my day!
Pygmalion0116 3 years ago 2
@Pygmalion0116
I'll definitely watch this movie. But afraid that it'll make me cry like hell as I feel like I'll be able to relate to it. Before I used to argue a lot in comments on this topic but then I left cause it's not easy to win with those people. They will never understand how it feels cause they have never been in a condition like this so it's absolutely impossible for them to think about it. Just like a person doesn't know how it feels to get burned if they have never got burned.
OrigamiByJay 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@Pygmalion0116 This movie was great. The scenes and the music moved me.
Kasen717 11 months ago
Hello, Pygamalion. I'm truly grateful to your detailed reply. To begin with, apart from the movie's bits and pieces I gathered from the web, I still haven't seen the movie yet. So, perhaps I'm not qualified to comment on its contents & details (to convict by relying on a dead man's words is even more flimsy ?).
coldhotred 3 years ago
However, I have no hesitation to express my dislike towards the overly sad ending of this movie. I'm not into homosexuality stuff but I firmly believe love is innocent irrespective of sexes and deserves the society's tolerance and respect.
coldhotred 3 years ago 2
At this moment, I still find it very doubtful towards the Director's intention behind. It seems that he had wantonly created on the screen something porno among the two pretty girls but then went on to strangle them in brutality through his hands (alternatively, perhaps he's only trying to pay a tribute towards Director Li An of Brokeback Mountain by naming the two girls as Li Ming and Chen An....haha).
coldhotred 3 years ago
FYI, it seems that the Director had also deliberately mixed up many historical events in China and brought them forward to the 80s or 90s. All these cast doubts as to what he was trying to sell to the Western world.
coldhotred 3 years ago
FYI, it seems that the Director had deliberately mixed up many historical events in China and brought them forward to the 80s or 90s. All these cast doubts as to what he was trying to sell to the Western world.
coldhotred 3 years ago
That's interesting -- his name is usually written (in the West) as Ang Li, not An Li.
sapphient 3 years ago
To: Sapphient
Hi, the names are the same in Chinese, i.e. 李安. 李 = Li and 安 = An/Ang
BTW, Hi, Pygmalion0116, I still can't find the movie after these months :)
coldhotred 3 years ago
Thanks for the information, coldhotred
The West has a long and ignoble history of making a mess of Chinese names! I suppose that it's partly due to the fact that pictographic writing is open to misinterpretation.
sapphient 3 years ago
the majority of chinese are always shamed on homosexuality.lesbian have to face so much pressures.China is a traditional country.Westerner couldn't image it!people always cannot do nothing but waiting&bearing!
caoyu1018 3 years ago
Furtehr to my comment of yesterday, I have to admit that I haven't watched the movie yet nor have I done any research on it. I came across this movie on the web and Youtube by chance but my legal instinct immediately tells me something terribly wrong about this movie, i.e. sentence to death for breaching the law on homosexuality esp. on the lesbian relationship. Now I found that this movie's setting was supposed to be in China, not in Vietnam.
coldhotred 3 years ago
Most importantly, I found this on Wikipedia:-"Controversies:
....The death sentence of Ming and An was considered as impossible, as although homosexuality has be discriminated in China, people do not get executed because of that. And the judge's verdict reasoning "Due to their behavior, our country lost an excellent botanist, thus they must be punished" is totally ridiculous."
coldhotred 3 years ago
Sadly, such big mistake is very telling of the Director's sincereity towards the topic of homosexuality in making the film. It seems that with a view to copy the success of Brokeback Mountain, the Director seized the topic of homosexuality and distorted the truth to manipulate the audience's emotion. It's also just another example of serious prejudice & misunderstanding towards China.
coolantplus 3 years ago
Here's an extract of my post of yesterday: Is it really an offence in respect of homosexuality between women in Vietnam ? In English law, it's an offence to commit the act of buggery between men & homosexuality is against the law in that sense. Women can't possibly commit the act of buggery physically & lesbianism is not against the English law. ..cont'd
coldhotred 3 years ago
cont'd....Unlike homosexuality in men, there is simply no intercourse in a lesbian relationship and it's practically difficult to prove at court a lesbian relationship between females. How can a court of law come to a verdict of guilty simply by the intimacy between females or even the contact of two naked female bodies (many examples can be given)? It seems quite inconceivable by virtue of the Common law principals.
coldhotred 3 years ago
Hi, coldhotred! First of all, to reply to your question "Is it really an offence in respect of homosexuality between women in China?" I must say that there are no law concerning homosexuality in China. There are some countries which do not have definite law concerning homosexuality such as Japan(my country), Thailand... China is one of these countries. Still, I DON'T think "the judge's verdict reasoning is totally ridiculous."
Pygmalion0116 3 years ago
Because Wikipedia sometimes tells us things different from the truth(did you checked the reference of it? it was cited from just a personal blog, not public one!) and I believe it was possible to happen in China at that time in the 1980s. The most important thing is, this film is based on the truth.
Pygmalion0116 3 years ago
There is no law against homosexuality in China, but at the same time, that means there are no law to protect them from people's incalculable hatred toward two girls who have killed their father especially in the Asian male-dominated society. The director, Dai Sijie (He is Chinese), is the person who have been trying to show the truth inside his country and have dealt with ideological issues such as Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and so on.
Pygmalion0116 3 years ago
And I have to emphasize that it is obvious he is truly sincere toward the topic of homosexuality taking his great effort into consideration. It was really hard to make this film in his country because Chinese government opressed him, so he had to move to Vietnam to shoot. Even now, this film isn't allowed to be released in his homecountry. I'm afraid to say, but even now, Chinese government tend to control thought like this, and in that sense, homosexuality is against the secret law in China.
Pygmalion0116 3 years ago
You may still be wondering why the two girls were proved to be lesbian at court? Maybe you've missed that An's father has accused his own daughter of homosexuality before he died in a hospital? It might be difficult to understand his act maybe especially for Western people. But he couldn't bear his daughter to be against the ethics of his homecountry and decided it would be better for An to die rather than to live betraying her country. He loves his daughter so much, so he couldn't forgive her.
Pygmalion0116 3 years ago
=)(=
sabr1namarques 4 years ago
=)(=
sabr1namarques 4 years ago
Amazing... thank you Azusa. ;)
Giota
cobsmowd1 4 years ago