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Set in 1948 in
Qingdao, China against a backdrop of the rise of Communism, Beauty
Remains tells the story of two sisters—Fei (Zhou Xun) and Ying (Vivian
Wu)—separated by the dictates of custom, bound together by the will of
their recently deceased father, Master Li, a legendary entrepreneur and a
man who has “made generations of women suffer.”
The illegitimate
daughter of Master Li and the maid of the household, Fei has grown up in
disgrace while her half-sister, Ying, has lived a life of opulent
leisure. When Master Li dies, the sisters learn that the continuation of
Fei’s academic scholarship and the liquidation of the family’s estate are
contingent upon the return of Fei to the Li household.
Forced to invite
her half-sister back into the family fold, Ying is enraged. Ying assumes,
however, that this proud young woman will be no threat to her eventual
claim to the family fortune. But there is one complication Ying didn’t
count on. . .
Though Ying and
Huang (Wang Zhi Wen)—a charismatic casino owner and reformed roué—have
intended to marry for many years, their relationship has always been
tumultuous. Now, as two women whose lives have been dictated by the often
cruel decrees of men struggle to transcend that influence, Huang is forced
to choose between the love of the woman who enchants him and the reckless
affair that will tear a household apart.
Photographed
entirely on location in Qingdao, China, Beauty Remains is a
co-production of Emerging Pictures (U.S.), Media Asia (U.S.), China Film
Group (China), and Shanghai Film Group (China). Beauty Remains is
director/producer Ann Hu’s second feature film; her debut, Shadow Magic,
recipient of both the Chinese Academy Award and Presidential Award in
China, among other international prizes, premiered at the Sundance Film
Festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics in 2001.
Along with Hu,
Beauty Remains is produced by Ira Deutchman, the independent film
pioneer who created Fine Line Features and has been making, marketing, and
distributing films for over 25 years. Han San Ping—president of China
Film Group, the largest film studio in China—and Nina Wong—Chairman of
Chinachem, the Hong Kong-based international conglomerate—serve as
executive producers.
The screenplay
was written by American writers, Beth Schacter and Michael Eldridge, and
Chinese playwright, Wang Bin (To Live, The Hero, House of Flying
Daggers). Starring Chinese A-listers Zhou Xun (Su Zhou River, The
Chinese Seamstress), and Wang Zhi Wen (Together, Assassin, The
Blush), Beauty Remains also features Los Angeles-based Vivian
Wu (The Last Emperor, The Pillow Book, Heaven & Earth and Lisa Lu (The
Last Emperor, The Joy Luck Club). Beauty Remains was
photographed by cinematographer Scott Kevan (Cabin Fever, The Job),
and designed by Carol Wells from New York, and Feng Li Gang and Chen Fei
from Beijing. |
