''Spring Fever'' is a 2009 Chinese/French film directed by

Lou Ye Lou Ye (), born 1965, is a Chinese screenwriter- director who is commonly grouped with the " Sixth Generation" directors of Chinese cinema. Films Born in Shanghai, Lou was educated at the Beijing Film Academy. In 1993, he made his first film ''W ...

. The production of the film is in defiance of a five-year ban on filmmaking imposed by China's

State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) is a ministry-level executive agency controlled by the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its main task is the administration and supervision of state-owned enterpr ...

(SARFT) for his previous film, ''

Summer Palace The Summer Palace () is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing dynasty. Inside includes Longevity Hill () Kunming Lake and Seventeen Hole Bridge. It covers an expanse of , three-quarte ...

''. Filmed in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

, the film was described to be about a young threesome overcome with erotic longings. By the time of the film's premiere at the Cannes Festival on 13 May 2009, it was known that Lou had circumvented the five-year ban imposed upon him after ''Summer Palace'' by having ''Spring Fever'' registered as a Hong Kong/French co-production.

Plot

The story begins in

. Suspecting that her husband Wang Ping is cheating on her, Lin Xue hires an unemployed photographer named Luo Haitao to follow him. Indeed, Wang is having a steamy affair with Jiang Cheng, a gay man. Lin confronts Wang and storms into Jiang's office to make a scene. Jiang cuts off all contact with Wang. Jiang becomes depressed and sleeps with Luo. Luo actually has a girlfriend, Li Jing, who loves him. Wang becomes desperate and commits suicide. Meanwhile, Li's factory is shut down by the police. As her boss has been good to her, Li helps to secure his release from detention, but comes to the realization he just wants to get into her pants. Jiang is devastated after hearing Wang's suicide. He quits his job and plans to go to

Suqian Suqian (, IPA: ) is a prefecture-level city in northern Jiangsu Province, China. It borders Xuzhou to the northwest, Lianyungang to the northeast, Huai'an to the south, and the province of Anhui to the west. History Suqian was said to be the si ...

with Luo for some materials. However, Li tags along and discovers their relationship. She is very upset, but as she really loves Luo, decides to "share" him with Jiang. On their way back to Nanjing, it becomes clear the dysfunctional love triangle cannot be sustained. Li leaves first, and Luo and Jiang also break up with some tears shed. Jiang is ambushed by a vengeful Lin and almost killed. He recovers and begins a relationship with another gay man.

Cast

Qin Hao Qin Hao (Chinese name: ) is a Chinese actor. He is known for starring in the 2009 film '' Spring Fever'' and the 2020 television series ''The Bad Kids ''The Bad Kids'' is a 2016 documentary film about students at risk of dropping out who a ...

() as Jiang Cheng () *

Chen Sicheng Chen Sicheng (born February 22, 1978 in Shenyang) is a Chinese actor, director and screenwriter. He graduated from the Central Academy of Drama, and is known for his leading roles in the films ''A Young Prisoner's Revenge'' and '' Spring Fever' ...

() as Luo Haitao () * Tan Zhuo () as Li Jing () *Wu Wei () as Wang Ping () *Jiang Jiaqi () as Lin Xue () *

Huang Xuan Huang Xuan (, born 3 March 1985) is a Chinese actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Blind Massage'' (2014), '' The Legend of Mi Yue'' (2015), ''The Interpreter'' (2016) and ''Extraordinary Mission'' (2017). Life and career Born and raised ...

Release

In April 2009, it was announced that ''Spring Fever'' was to be shown in competition at the

2009 Cannes Film Festival The 62nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 May to 24 May 2009. French actress Isabelle Huppert was the President of the Jury. Twenty films from thirteen countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 23 M ...

. Little else was known about the film at the time, except that Lou was in the process of

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, ...

the film in Paris. Like ''Summer Palace'', ''Spring Fever'' was also screened without government approval.

Reception

An early review by industry watcher ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', following ''Spring Fever's'' premiere in the

, was critical of the film's "overlong" running-length of 116 minutes, and its overly "Euro tastes (and Western sensibilities)," especially when compared with Lou's breakout film ''

Suzhou River Suzhou Creek (or Soochow Creek), also called the Wusong (Woosung) River, is a river that passes through the Shanghai city center. It is named after the neighboring city of Suzhou (Soochow), Jiangsu, the predominant settlement in this area prior ...

''. The film won the award for

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

at the

for its writer Mei Feng.

References

External links

* * *
''Spring Fever''
at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

''Spring Fever''
at the Chinese Movie Database *
''Spring Fever''
at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

* {{Lou Ye 2009 films 2009 romantic drama films Chinese LGBT-related films Films directed by Lou Ye Films shot in Jiangsu Films set in Jiangsu French romantic drama films Hong Kong films LGBT-related romantic drama films 2000s Mandarin-language films Chinese romantic drama films Male bisexuality in film 2009 LGBT-related films 2000s French films