Set during the Cultural Revolution in Maoist China (late 1960s-early 70s), Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress follows a pair of young men, Luo and Ma, who have been sent from their homes in the city to the rural mountains in central China for the process of "re- education"- a Maoist program known as the "Down to the Countryside" movement. In short, the idea behind this was for the richer urban youth to "see how the other half lives", which instead served as a sort of exile of youth and their potentially revolutionary ideas: send them away, and they won't be a problem anymore. In what would later be recognized as one of the most culturally destructive events in Chinese history, ironically cast as being to remove "revisionists" (those who supported capitalistic ideas and western culture), the years of Mao's Cultural Revolution set the Chinese economy, social structure, education, and politics back irreparably.The story revolves around these two teens and their interactions with the local peasant villagers- but particularly the beautiful granddaughter of the village's tailor. Illiterate, but with an open mind and desire to learn, the Little Seamstress beseeches Luo and Ma to teach her how to read and write, and they see her as a chance to use their "revolutionary ideas" and "corrupt" (redeem) even just one soul from the poisonous teachings of Mao. Of course, at this time, any kind of print material, television, film, or anything of cultural relevance that was deemed "revisionist" or "revolutionary" was strictly prohibited, and subject to confiscation and destruction- not to mention punishable by prison or worse for the offender found in possession of such contraband. Toeing the line, Luo and Ma seek out western books written purely for the pleasure of reading, such as Balzac's Ursule Mirouet and Alexander Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo, with which to teach the Little Seamstress to read, and at the same time to think for herself- a true re-education.Luo and Ma grapple with their circumstances- being pushed into backbreaking labor mining and farming with the penniless villagers and their ignorance of the ways of modern medicine and thought. It's almost as if the people there were frightened to think- afraid of outside knowledge that might threaten their simple, but difficult existence on the mountain, and readily accepted the Maoist ideas that Luo and Ma were seeing right through. The culture of fear instilled in them by the government pervaded their thoughts to the point of near paranoia- the scene where the village chief nearly dies in a cave in attempting to save a portrait of Chairman Mao is the pinnacle of this irrational, fierce obsession. Another scene that really highlit a sense of desperation and tragedy in the movie was how the contraband western authors' books were used as a form of currency, in a sense. Something as simple as literature and knowledge were so dear to Luo and Ma, as an escape from their rough living conditions. Yet another scene that really spoke to me was when Ma contracted (what they thought was) malaria. Being that Luo and Ma were children of a dentist and doctor, respectively, they understood that with medicine and actual treatment that malaria was very curable- but Ma was subjected to all manner of primitive, ignorant, tribalistic medicine- like whipping and being thrown into the lake, and accepted it because he knew there was no way he'd be allowed to leave to seek proper treatment in a city.

In Communist China, 1971, two close friends, Luo and Ma, are forcibly relocated to a remote southern region of the country because of their "reactionary"--one of their dentist fathers once filled a tooth for Chiang Kai-shek, etc--backgrounds and activities. They are given Spartan living quarters with diets to match and forced to work back-breaking jobs doing "honest" labor such as hauling large vats of human waste to fertilize the nearby fields. They become friends with a local girl, a seamstress whose true name they never learn, and the three begin a covert reading group of forbidden foreign novels.First of all, BALZAC and the LITTLE Chinese SEAMSTRESS is just a very moving, engaging, and intelligent story. Based on Dai Sijie's excellent novel of the same title, it's not for those who want a lot of fast action and such. Nevertheless, this film truly takes you to Mao's China, providing dead-eye satire of its institutions and revealing the amazing ignorance of the political "chiefs" responsible for making life-and-death decisions for thousands of people. The ugliness of this system contrasts very well with the beautiful natural scenery in the film. The way that three free-thinking people circumvent the tunnel-visioned totalitarian system is a wonderful story device. It's also very funny: Wow, I didn't know that Balzac was an Albanian! There are sexual themes and sexual tension but no blatant sex or nudity. The three-way relationship between these individuals is simply as real as real can get.If you enjoy this film, I might recommend another excellent Chinese production with a similar theme: XIU XIU: THE SENT DOWN GIRL.

"Balzac and the little seamstress" is French made film which portrays the profound impact that illicit French literature has on a peasant Chinese village during the cultural revolution. Outsiders, two city boys sent from the big city for re-education, breezily deal with the hardship of peasant life and the disapproval of their bourgeois ways. Fortunately for them, they are saved by their discovery of the presence of a stash of cultured (mostly French) foreign literature. They then begin their own re-education project in an effort to bring civilization to object of their love, the cute little seamstress. Unfortunately the film becomes an unconvincing lesson in the enlightening impact of European and particularly French culture when presented to rural Sichuan peasants. The pretensions of this concept are bad enough. But even this half-baked concept becomes more laughable the hands of this ham-fisted director. Attempts at comedy fall flat and the character relationships are empty. Without this there is little of value in such a film except for the undeniably beautiful setting.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Sijie DaiThe film was a very affectionate story right in between important events and right at the very end where it showed an important past of Luo(Kun Chen), Ma(Ye Liu), and The little seamstress(Xun Zhou) in the shed where they were re-educated and where Luo and Ma first feel in love with the Little Seamstress. I always thought that something would happen between Ma(Ye Liu) and Luo(Kun Chen) over the Little Seamstress(Xun Zhou) because Ma was always down about seeing Luo with The Seamstress, and i thought his jealousy would get in the way later on."Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" is a passionate film that idealizes two guys who are in love with one girl and shows how determined the two guys were in trying to change the girl. However the film lacks a more passionate ending like Luo should have tried to get Ma and try to look for the Little Seamstress even though she went so far, then i thought they would meet up in the end when they were older.In the Story the Little Chinese Seamstress, Luo and Ma are two re-educated guys that both fall in love with a girl named the Little Chinese Seamstress. Luo and Ma both try to find a way to reform the Little Seamstress by using forbidden books. Luo falls in love with the Seamstress and Ma tries to not fall in love with the Little Seamstress for Luo. One element of the film i liked is how Ye Liu takes out his violin and plays Mozart. Ye Liu showed a very good additional theme to the story by playing a song with such a soft melody symbolizing harmony and peace. It somewhat showed how Ye Liu's character is and how it might shape him in the future in the film as Ma. One element of the film i really didn't like was when Kun Chen's character Luo wanted to change the Little Seamstress so that she would match up to him. Luo was a bit selfish but when it happened Luo fell in love with her anyways.The film was directed by Sijie Dai, who used the books and Concepts of Balzac, who is an author and introduces the New form of the Little Seamstress as time went by. Each one of the books that were read to the Little Seamstress by Ma and Luo gave the Little Seamstress that certain reason to leave and find something new in the city. The characters find themselves in that certain place, the place in memory where it all began, in that certain shed, where they had discovered one thing in particular, Balzac.Review by :geoffrey c. 5/13/07