''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 Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

: ''Dōng gōng xī gōng'') is a 1996 Chinese film directed by Zhang Yuan, starring

Hu Jun Hu Jun (born March 18, 1968) is a Chinese actor best known for playing dramatic roles in various films and television series. He has acted in a number of Hong Kong films. Biography Hu Jun was born on March 18, 1968, to Wang Yiman (), a drama ac ...

and Si Han, and based on a short story by writer Wang Xiaobo. It is also known as ''Behind the Forbidden City'' or ''Behind the Palace Gates''. ''East Palace, West Palace'' is the first

Mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC), ...

movie with an explicitly homosexual 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 *

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, a ...

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

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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 fes ...

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. The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to '' Ta'm e guilass'' by Abbas Kiarostami and ''Unagi'' by Shohei Imamura. Jeanne Moreau was the mistress of ceremonies. The festival opened with ...

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

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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 ''

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'' 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 U ...

'' praised Si and Hu's performances, calling the film "bold and daring" and reading it as a critique of authoritarian government. In

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, 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 Strand Releasing is an American film production company founded in 1989 and is based in Culver City, California. The company has distributed over 300 auteur-driven titles from acclaimed international and American directors such as Apichatpong Wee ...

{{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