''C'est la vie, mon chéri'' () is a 1993 Hong Kong

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

directed by

Derek Yee Derek Yee Tung-sing () is a film producer, director and a former Shaw Brothers actor from Hong Kong. Early life Yee was born Yee Tung-sing in Hong Kong on 28 December 1957, the son of Yee Kwong (爾光), a film producer from Tientsin (Tianjin), ...

and starring

Lau Ching-wan Sean Lau Ching-wan (born 16 February 1964) is a Hong Kong actor who has acted in both films and television series. He won Best Actor in the 2007 and 2015 Hong Kong Film Awards and in the 2000 and 2007 Golden Bauhinia Awards. Career Lau was born ...

Anita Yuen Anita Yuen Wing Yee (born 4 September 1971) is a Hong Kong film and television actress. Pageant career At the age of 18, Yuen entered the Miss Hong Kong 1990 pageant. She was a heavy favorite to win the crown from the semifinal to final. During t ...

and Carina Lau. It won six awards, including

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, during the

13th Hong Kong Film Awards The 13th Hong Kong Awards ceremony, honored the best films of 1993 and took place on 22 April 1994 at Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The ceremony was hosted by Lydia Shum and John Sham John Sham Kin-Fun (born 1952) ...

Title

The movie is sometimes referred to as ''C'est la vie, mon chérie'' even though this is grammatically incorrect in French (either "mon chéri" or "ma chérie" is grammatically correct). The title may be roughly translated as "That's life, my darling/love". The original Chinese title refers to the classic 1961

Hong Kong film The cinema of Hong Kong ( zh, t=香港電影) is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China and the cinema of Taiwan. As a former British colony, Hong Kong had a greater degree of pol ...

''Love Without End'' (不了情) starring

Lin Dai Linda Lin Dai (; 26 December 1934 – 17 July 1964), born Ching Yuetyue (程月如), was a Chinese actress of Hong Kong films made in Mandarin during the 1950s–60s. She was a star actress of the Shaw Brothers Studio. She was the daughter of ...

, with the word "new" (新) added in front of it. The storyline is similar, in that the female lead character is also diagnosed with a fatal illness. An alternative English title is ''Endless Love''.

Plot

Min (Anita Yuen), who is part of a Cantonese street opera troupe and a part-time cover artiste, meets Kit (Lau Ching-Wan), a struggling

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musician who has just broken up with his celebrity singer girlfriend (Carina Lau). Through her bubbly personality, she affects Kit for the better. However, just as their relationship begins to stabilize and win acceptance from Min's family, which includes a strict mother and a doting,

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

-playing uncle, Min is re-diagnosed with

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thy ...

, which she had once suffered as a child.

Cast and roles

as Kit *

as Min * Carina Lau as Tracey *

Paul Chun Paul Chun (; born 26 June 1945) is a Hong Kong actor. He has appeared in more than 130 films and television series since 1949. In 1966, he appeared in ''The Sand Pebbles'', an American film produced and directed by Robert Wise. Early life He wa ...

as Uncle / Cheung Po-tsai *

Fung Bo Bo Petrina Fung Bo Bo (born 30 October 1954) is a Malaysian-born Chinese actress in Hong Kong. Fung is known for the 1994 film ''C'est la vie, mon chéri''. Early life On October 30, 1954, Fung was born in Malaysia. Fung's father is Fung Fung, ...

as Min's mother * Carrie Ng as Yau Ling * Sylvia Chang as Min's doctor (cameo) *

Jacob Cheung Jacob Cheung Chi-leung is a Hong Kong film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His credits include '' A Battle Of Wits'' (2006), which was nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Golden Bauhinia Awards, and '' Beyond the ...

as Fortune teller (cameo) *

David Wu David Wu (born April 8, 1955) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1999 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. As a child of immigrants from Taiwan, Wu was the first Taiwanese American to serve ...

* Sherman Wong as Producer *

Peter Chan Peter Ho-sun Chan (born 28 November 1962) is a film director and producer. Early life Chan was born in British Hong Kong to parents China. He and his family moved to Thailand when he was 12, where he grew up amongst the international Chine ...

as Cocktail party attendee (cameo) *

Teddy Chan Teddy Chan or Teddy Chen Tak Sum () is a Hong Kong film director, producer, writer and actor. Filmography Filmography as director, art director and other positions:

as Man sitting at bar * Jamie Luk as Blacky * Eugene Pao as Keung *

Tats Lau Tats Lau Yee-Tat (; born 23 February 1963) is a Hong Kong musician, songwriter, singer and actor. Music career During the 1980s, Tats Lau was active in Hong Kong's independent music scene. He established several underground bands including D ...

as Tats *

Herman Yau Herman Yau Lai-to (; born 13 July 1961) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. Filmography * 1987: '' Tragic Hero'' – Co-Cinematographer * 1987: '' No Regret'' – Director * 1988: '' The Truth'' – Cinematographe ...

as Kit's musician friend * Andy Chin *

Joe Junior Joe Junior (born Jose Maria Rodrigues Jr.) is a Hong Kong English pop singer from Macau who as active during the 1960s. He has since been in a number of TVB drama series in the 1990s and 2000s playing older character roles. He has regularly ap ...

as Cover singer *

Joe Cheung Joe Cheung Tung-cho () is a Hong Kong director, producer, scriptwriter and actor. Filmography As director * '' The Incredible Kung Fu Master'' (1979) * '' Killer Wears White'' (1980) * '' Dan bo dan'' (1981) * ''Pom Pom'' (1984) * '' Feng liu z ...

as Bartender * Lawrence Lau * Stephen Yip * Kwai Chung as Mr. Cheung * Fei Fook * Cheung Hung-on * Wong Wa-wo * Hau Woon-ling * Alexander Chan * Yu Ngai-ho as Music Company Employee * Chan Kim-wan as musician * Tsang Cheung * Cho Sai *

Chin Tsi-ang Chin Tsi-Ang (February 22, 1909 – October 15, 2007), also romanized as Qian Siying, was one of the earliest martial arts actors of Chinese cinema and its first female star. She debuted in ''South China Dream'' (南华梦, Nanhua Meng) in 1925 a ...

as Min's granny

Awards and nominations

Theme song

The theme song of the same name ''C'est la vie, mon chéri'' () is sung by Taiwanese singer One-Fang.

Soundtrack

* One-Fang: 新不了情 "''C'est la vie, mon chéri''" *

: 念情 "''Remembering Love''" * Film score: 晨街 "''Morning Street''" * Film score: 憶兒時 "''Childhood Memories''" * Lee Fung: 搖紅燭 "''Shaking the Red Candle''" * One-Fang: 給我一個吻 "''Give Me a Kiss''" * One-Fang: 不了情 "''Endless Love''" * Film score: 愛芽初萌 "''Shoots of a Budding Love''" * Film score: IN THE MOOD *

, Louise Tang: 載歌載舞（詐肚痛） "''Singing and Dancing (Feigning Abdominal Pain)''" (Cantonese) * Lee Fung: 補鑊佬 "''Remedial guy''" (Cantonese) * Film score: 返家 "''Back Home''" * Fung Bo Bo: 黎明在望 "''Dawn Is in Sight''" (Cantonese)

Television Series

In 2008,

and CCTV produced a television adaptation of ''C'est la vie, mon chéri'', starring

Chen Kun Chen Kun (; born February 4, 1976), sometimes credited as Aloys Chen, is a Chinese actor and singer. He gained recognition from television dramas ''Love Story in Shanghai'' and ''The Story of a Noble Family'' and rose to international prominence wi ...

Fiona Sit Fiona Sit (; born 11 August 1981) is a Hong Kong singer and actress. Early life In an interview with Hong Kong Newspaper Apply Daily in 2006, Fiona Sit revealed that she has always been interested in singing in front of an audience since a ver ...

, Alex Fong,

Candice Yu Candice Yu (Yu On On; born Yu De Ying; 22 October 1959) is a Hong Kong film actress and occasional singer best known for her films with Shaw Brothers Studio of the 1970s and 1980s. She was the first wife of Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-fat. Film c ...

, and Benz Hui.

References

External links

*
HK cinemagic entry

{{DEFAULTSORT:C'est la vie, mon cheri 1993 films 1993 romantic drama films Hong Kong romantic drama films 1990s Cantonese-language films Best Film HKFA Films directed by Derek Yee Films about music and musicians Films about cancer Films set in Hong Kong Films shot in Hong Kong 1990s Hong Kong films