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Suzhou River (2000)

  • A young woman looking defiantly in the camera as a man pats her on the head
  • A young woman puts her head on a man's shoulder as they look sideways
  • On the banks of Suzhou River as portrayed in a film by Lou Ye
  • A young woman looking up at a man in a numb question
  • A young disheveled man contemplating on his misfortune against the grayness of a Chinese city
  • A young woman with her hair dyed in blonde and her lips smeared in bright red looking down
“It’s hard not to be swept up by the strong current of Suzhou River: a seductive and atmospheric conundrum that works pleasingly as an exercise in storytelling.”
–Lizzie Francke, Sight and Sound

Along the banks of the Suzhou River, which winds precariously through Shanghai, Marda (Jia Hongshen) falls in love with a dramatically beautiful young woman named Moudan (Zhou Xun). When he tries to kidnap her in order to demand ransom money from her rich father, she escapes him, jumping in to the river and disappearing forever. Marda serves a three-year jail sentence for his attempted crime. Upon his release, he meets a woman that looks exactly like Moudan, named MeiMei (also played by Zhou Xun).
An exciting, action-filled mystery suspense movie, director Lou Ye’s SUZHOU RIVER shares many thematic and stylistic elements with Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO.

Written and directed by Lou Ye. With Zhou Xun, Jia Hongsheng, Nai An, Yao Anlian & Hua Zhongkai.

Runtime
1h 23m
Year
2000
Director
Lou Ye
Format
DCP
Language
In Mandarin with English Subtitles
Categories
Featured
  • Assisted Listening