- Both deal w/ young love and its growing pains.
- Both deal w/ the "re-education" of urban young people through hard labor in rural villages..... as part of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Similar subjects addressed differently ..... Under the Hawthorn Tree is a simple and elegant film of innocent love .... Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a film w/ a meaningful message, rebelling against the re-education.
- Both deal w/ the "re-education" of urban young people through hard labor in rural villages..... as part of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Similar subjects addressed differently ..... Under the Hawthorn Tree is a simple and elegant film of innocent love .... Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a film w/ a meaningful message, rebelling against the re-education.
The 2002 movie was also a heartfelt account with humor and heartaches about city youth sent away to be "reeducated through labor with the peasants" but who did not give up their yearning for education, college, and art. It is largely autobiographical, so gives valuable insights on some parts of the drama (such as what movies were watched by the Chinese at the time, apart from "revolutionary opera movies" : Korean movies, war movies from "socialist countries"...). The drama, and the novel Love Story in the 1970s, are a "softer take" on the struggles and joys of the "scars generation".
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, the award winning 2000 novel, written in French, was a best seller and has been translated into more than 25 languages. It draws on the memories of author Dai Sijiie (born in 1954) from the years he spent in a re-education camp in rural Sichuan from 1971 to 1974 during the Cultural Revolution.
The movie, featuring Zhou Xun as FL, Chen Kun and Liu Ye as MLs, adapted and directed by the author "received several nominations, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film (2003), a Golden Horse Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (2003), and a Hong Kong Film Award nomination for Best Asian Film (2004). It also won the NBR Award for Top Foreign Films (2005)." It can be watched with English subtitles on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUySDK5cpy4
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, the award winning 2000 novel, written in French, was a best seller and has been translated into more than 25 languages. It draws on the memories of author Dai Sijiie (born in 1954) from the years he spent in a re-education camp in rural Sichuan from 1971 to 1974 during the Cultural Revolution.
The movie, featuring Zhou Xun as FL, Chen Kun and Liu Ye as MLs, adapted and directed by the author "received several nominations, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film (2003), a Golden Horse Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (2003), and a Hong Kong Film Award nomination for Best Asian Film (2004). It also won the NBR Award for Top Foreign Films (2005)." It can be watched with English subtitles on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUySDK5cpy4
