Bridge across troubled waters

Updated: 2013-01-06 08:29

By Sun Yuanqing(China Daily)

  Print Mail Large Medium  Small

 Bridge across troubled waters

By setting the movie Foreigner in Wuhan, film director Fabien Gaillard hopes it will demonstrate the diversity of the country. Provided to China Daily

 Bridge across troubled waters

Gaillard uses love stories to approach cultural and emotional differences. Zhang Wei / China Daily

Film director Fabien Gaillard explores cross-cultural relationships without the cliches in his latest production. Sun Yuanqing reports.

Enough cliched stories have been told about cross-cultural romances, especially between Asian women and European men, so much so that French director Fabien Gaillard decided to approach a Chinese-French love story in a different way.

In his movie Foreigner (Laowai), an "impossible couple" - Paul, a French IT engineer and musician, and Mei, a traditional Wuhan girl - fall in love and strive to stay together despite the obstacles of culture and a troublesome ex-girlfriend.

"The argument is not only about cultural differences, but also about the disputes between men and women," says Gaillard, 33. "I try to make the film universal."

The Chinese-speaking movie was first shown at the Inaugural Vietnam International Film Festival in 2010 and received positive reviews.

The Hollywood Reporter called it "an unassuming romantic drama that could well be the beginning of a larger trend in Asian cinema".

Film Business Asia described it as a "cross-cultural romance that avoids all the usual pitfalls and cliches".

It premiered in Beijing on Dec 4 and runs until Jan 20 at Broadway Cinematheque MOMA, as part of a young filmmakers series.

The movie stars Gauthier Roubichou, a French musician who speaks fluent Chinese, and Han Dantong, a Chinese actress. Gaillard put much thought into casting as he wanted actors who could convey the right message.

"I want to tell a story about someone who knows about China. I want him to speak Chinese and perform and sing in Chinese."

For the part of Mei, Gaillard auditioned more than 20 actresses before finally picking Han.

"My only idea of the heroine was that I wanted her to be very traditional Chinese," he says.

"They are a kind of impossible couple, when Mei is very Chinese and doesn't speak any English, and Paul is very French.

"Paul may be the kind of guy who always goes out with girls like Vicky (Paul's ex-girlfriend), who can speak English and have a foreign cultural background. But this is the first time he has met a girl like Mei, who is truly a traditional Chinese woman."

Gaillard hopes the film will break down stereotypes.

"People might have a certain prejudice against cross-culture couples," he says. "But there are some for true love, like in the movie. And this is what the movie wants to show, to break the cliched image of women who date foreigners."

Gaillard sets the movie in Wuhan, a provincial capital of Hubei province, as a contrast to metropolitan Shanghai, to demonstrate the diversity of the country.

"The culture there is very different," he says. "I realized for the first time that China is a huge country and there are lots of different cultures inside. People in Wuhan are very warm-hearted; Shanghai is more for business. People have no time for others. They only have time for business. I want to show the contrast of the two cities, and of the two cultures."

Gaillard came to China eight years ago with his wife Yan Mi, a Beijing native. The two met in France when they were students.

Before the movie, Gaillard made two documentaries - Wo Ai Ni (I Love You), about his first trip to China and Doctor Wang, about the life of a blind masseur, who is also a friend of Gaillard.

After working at the French embassy in Beijing for about a year, Gaillard moved to Shanghai with Yan.

There he met a very different kind of foreign national. Unlike Beijing, where many foreigners work for official organizations, in Shanghai it's common to see foreigners taking on jobs like salesmen and waiters.

The more diversified foreign population in Shanghai has been a major inspiration for Gaillard. Paul in the movie, for instance, is a combination of himself and two Shanghai friends - one who works as an IT engineer and another who plays in a local band.

While the movie is based on a Chinese-French couple, Gaillard says its message is broader than cross-cultural relationships.

"It's never easy for a couple to get along," he says. "For a couple from different cultures, it's even more difficult. But even if there is difficulty, it's possible to get along together. Love is like a garden, we both have to take time to care for it so that it can grow more lushly."

Gaillard is now preparing for his next movie, which will also be a cross-cultural love story of a Chinese man and a French woman. Gaillard wants the movie to get even closer to reality.

Shot in both China and France, Gaillard says his next movie is set to be finished in 2013.

Contact the writer at sunyuanqing@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 01/06/2013 page5)

主站蜘蛛池模板: 精品国产一区二区三区www| 国产精品电影一区二区三区| 国产激情久久久久影院小草| 久热中文字幕无码视频| 91香蕉国产线观看免费全集| 欧美亚洲国产第一页草草| 国产成人亚洲综合欧美一部| 中文字幕三级在线不卡| 男女做www免费高清视频| 国产综合色在线视频区| 五月婷婷色综合| 美女隐私尿口视频网站| 大学生a级毛片免费观看| 亚洲国产成人久久精品软件| 香蕉在线视频播放| 巨胸喷奶水视频www网快速| 亚洲欧美国产精品| 国产在线a免费观看| 把极品白丝班长啪到腿软| 做a的视频免费| 两个人看的视频www在线高清 | 国产精品亚洲片在线观看不卡| 久久福利视频导航| 精品视频麻豆入口| 在线中文字日产幕| 久久香蕉超碰97国产精品| 浪荡女天天不停挨cao日常视频| 国产欧美va欧美va香蕉在线| 两腿之间的私密图片| 永久在线免费观看| 国产女人18毛片水真多18精品| 三上悠亚电影在线观看| 欧美综合一区二区三区| 国产亚洲精品日韩综合网| www.sifangpian| 欧美在线观看视频网站| 国产午夜无码片在线观看影院| jizz国产在线观看| 最近高清国语中文在线观看免费| 国产91在线九色| 99在线观看视频|