Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

"A tailor-made love story."

2002 1h 56m ZH

👍

6.8

SOLID

🍅

77%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★6.8TMDB · 77🍅77%Rotten Tomatoes●65Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 4,626

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

During the Cultural Revolution, two young men are sent to a remote mining village where they fall in love with the local tailor's beautiful granddaughter and discover a suitcase full of forbidden Western novels.

“A tailor-made love story.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Zhou Xun
Little Seamstress
Chen Kun
Luo Min
Liu Ye
Ma Jianling
Wang Shuangbao
Head of the Village
Cong Zhijun
Old Tailor
Wang Hongwei
Four Eyes
Xiao Xiong
Mother of Four Eyes
Zuohui Tang
Old Mill Worker

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Dai Sijie
Writers: Dai Sijie, Nadine Perront
Languages: Mandarin, French
Countries: China, France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 24 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Mandarin, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: China, France.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Dai Sijie, shot by Jean-Marie Dreujou. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Pujian Wang. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Julia Grégory shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Zhou Xun and Chen Kun and Liu Ye carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A tailor-made love story.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Dai Sijie directs. Jean-Marie Dreujou behind the camera. Pujian Wang scores. Julia Grégory cuts. Produced in China, France. Dialogue in Mandarin, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 24 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Mandarin, French.
3International production across 2 countries: China, France.
4Directed by Dai Sijie, shot by Jean-Marie Dreujou. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Pujian Wang. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Julia Grégory shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Zhou Xun and Chen Kun and Liu Ye carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A tailor-made love story.".
9IMDB entry: tt0291032 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 77 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
11Classified under 10 themes, including "china", "love of one's life", "balzac", "1970s".
12Released under 18 different titles around the world.