- Set in 1948 against the backdrop of Communism's rise, "Fei" is the story of two sisters--Fei and Ying--bound together by the will of their late father, a legendary business entrepreneur, and their shared love for a charismatic ex-boxer, Huang. They are two women whose paths have been dictated by the often cruel decrees of the men their lives--two women who must somehow transcend that influence...or lose everything.—SK
- "Beautiful women, you make every mistake. While heroic men make every other one."
-dialogue from Beauty Remains
A hybrid of East and West, the intimate and the epic, psychological acuity and grand storytelling, director Ann Hus Beauty Remains is at once a subtle and haunting work and a rich historic tapestry.
Set in 1948 in Qingdao, China against a backdrop of the rise of Communism, Beauty Remains tells the story of two sistersFei (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 Feis academic scholarship and the liquidation of the familys 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 didnt count on. . .
Though Ying and Huang (Wang Zhi Wen)a charismatic casino owner and reformed rouéhave 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 Hus 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 Pingpresident of China Film Group, the largest film studio in Chinaand Nina WongChairman of Chinachem, the Hong Kong-based international conglomerateserve 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.
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