''East Palace, West Palace'' (

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...

: 东宫西宫,

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Dōng gōng xī gōng'') is a 1996 Chinese film directed by Zhang Yuan, starring Hu Jun and Si Han, and based on a short story by writer

Wang Xiaobo Wang Xiaobo () (May 13, 1952 – April 11, 1997) was a renowned contemporary Chinese novelist and essayist from Beijing. Life On May 13, 1952, Wang Xiaobo was born in a family of intellectuals in Beijing. From 1968 to 1970, he was transfe ...

. It is also known as ''Behind the Forbidden City'' or ''Behind the Palace Gates''. ''East Palace, West Palace'' is the first Mainland Chinese movie with an explicitly

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

theme. The title of the movie is derived from the two parks near the Forbidden City — the East Palace and the West Palace. The two parks, specifically their public washrooms, are well-known for being places of congregation for homosexual in Beijing during the night.

Plot

In China, homosexuality isn't illegal, but homosexuals are routinely persecuted by police and arrested for "hooliganism". The film focuses on a young gay writer called A-Lan who, being attracted to a young policeman named Xiao Shi, manages to have himself arrested and interrogated for a whole night. His life-story which he tells during the interrogation reflects the general repression of the Chinese society. Xiao Shi's attitude shifts from the initial revulsion to fascination and, finally, to attraction.

Cast

*Si Han as A-Lan * Hu Jun as Xiao Shi *

Zhao Wei Zhao Wei (; born 12 March 1976), also known as Vicky Zhao or Vicki Zhao, is a Chinese actress, businesswoman, film director, producer and pop singer. She is considered one of the most popular actresses in China and Chinese-speaking regions, an ...

as Classmate in white shirt *Jing Ye as A-Lan as a youth *Liu Yuxiao as female thief *Ma Wen as Yamen runner *Wang Quan as A-Lan (young) *Lu Rong as A-Lan's mother *Zhao Xiaoyu as cop *Yang Jian as cop

Production

The film was shot in the spring of 1996, when it was smuggled out of China for post-production in France. The film was produced by Christophe Menager, Christophe Jung, and Zhang Yuan, executive produced by Willy Tsao, associate produced by Zhang Yukang, and edited by Vincent Levy, with sound by Wu Gang, Shen Jiaqin, and Bruno Lecoeur, music by Xiang Min, and art direction by An Bing; its director of photography was Jian Zhang. Its screenplay was written by Zhang Yuan and Wang Xiaobo. It was produced by Amazon Entertainment Limited and Quelqu'un d'Autre Productions and distributed by Fortissimo Films.

Release

''East Palace, West Palace'' premiered at the

Mar del Plata Film Festival The Mar del Plata International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata) is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature fest ...

in Argentina in November 1996 and at the

1997 Cannes Film Festival The 50th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1997 in film, 1997. The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to ''Taste of Cherry, Ta'm e guilass'' by Abbas Kiarostami and ''The Eel (film), Unagi'' by Shohei Imamura. Jeanne Moreau was the mistre ...

as part of the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

competition.

Reception

''East Palace, West Palace'' received mostly positive reviews, holding a score of 80% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on five critics.

Lawrence Van Gelder Lawrence Ralph Van Gelder (February 17, 1933 – March 11, 2016) was an American journalist and instructor in journalism who worked at several different New York City-based newspapers in his long career. Until 2010, he was senior editor of the Ar ...

of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' described the film as "powerful drama and courageous politics," and Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' praised Si and Hu's performances, calling the film "bold and daring" and reading it as a critique of authoritarian government. In Variety, Derek Elley provided a more negative review, describing the film as "beautifully shot" but also criticizing its portrayal of homosexuality as dated and describing A-Lan's repeated flashbacks as repetitive.

References

External links

* *
''East Palace, West Palace''
at Strand Releasing {{Zhang Yuan Chinese LGBT-related films 1996 drama films Films set in Beijing Films directed by Zhang Yuan Gay-related films Chinese drama films 1996 LGBT-related films