Distributor: Cheeland Entertainment, Class Ltd., Beijing Polybona
Director: Ann Hui On Wah
Screenwriter: Li Qiang
Executive Producer: Yuan Mei
Producer: Er Yong (Zhang Wang)
Cinematographer: Kwan Pun Leung / Nelson Yu Lik Wai
Music: Joe Hisaishi
Art Director: Wu Li Zhong
Sound Director: Du Du Zhi
Editor: Liao Ching Song
Cast
Siqin Gaowa - Aunt Ye Ru Tang
Chow Yun Fat - Pan Zhi Chang
Zhao Wei - Liu Da Fan
Lu Yan - Mrs. Shui
Shi Ke - Jin Yong Hua
Guan Wen Shuo - Kuan Kuan
Wang Zhi Wen - Fei Fei
Characters Relationships
Aunt Ye RuTang, a woman in her sixties, lives alone in an old apartment in Shanghai. People of her generation were raised in a very different China. Having received higher education, not only has she been taught to be kind, courteous, egalitarian and socially responsible, she has also retained the sense of superiority that an intellectual had. However, in the modern society, Aunt Ye feels out of place like a fish out of the water. No one wants to hire her due to her old-fashioned skills and attitude. Thus, she lives on her meagre savings.
Her troubles begin with her neighbor Mrs. Shui. Mrs. Shui is also a single senior who is obsessed about her cat and herself. She has nothing to do other than constantly sticking her nose into other people's business. A series of encounters with the people around her will not only change Aunt Ye's life forever, but change her value system as well.
The first disruption in her life is the visit of her twelve-year-old nephew Kuan Kuan, sent to stay with her to recuperate from a road accident in which he broke a leg. Kuan Kuan's parents are divorced, so he lives with his mother. Kuan-Kuan is the first to pull a scam on Aunt Ye. He pretends to have been kidnapped and demands a ransom. (He wants the money to finance cosmetic surgery for his new friend Fei Fei, who has serious facial scars caused by a childhood accident). When Kuan-Kuan's plan goes hopelessly wrong, the aunt and nephew reach an emotional rapprochement. When the time comes for Kuan Kuan to return to his mother, Aunt Ye misses him.
Then, Aunt Ye encounters Jin YongHua, a peasant woman who introduces herself as being abused by her husband. Seeing that Jin genuinely needs money to pay her sick daughter's hospital bills, Aunt Ye hires her as a live-in housekeeper. However, Jin gets thrown out when Aunt Ye sees Jin faking a street accident and demanding compensation from a passing driver.
Pan ZhiChang, an elderly yet seemingly charming con-man appears as Aunt Ye sings opera with other enthusiastic amateurs in the park. He easily sweeps her off her feet with a mixture of classical poetry and flattery. He disappears after borrowing a small sum of money. When he returns, despite her doubts, the lonely Aunt decides to dive into the emotional turmoil once more. Once the initial "misunderstanding" has been cleared up, he draws her into an elaborate scam involving speculation in the price of cemetery plots.
Although she finally sends him packing, Aunt Ye finds herself with nothing left by the unexpected experience of a twilight romance. Having lost all her savings and her faith in human kindness, the heartbroken Aunt falls down the steps of an overpass. Hospitalized for a broken arm and leg, she is eventually visited by her daughter DaFan, a blowsy girl who arrives from Northeast China with her equally uncouth boyfriend Guo Feng.
Aunt Ye has always bragged about her daughter's successful life in Los Angeles. Now she is confronted by someone she hasn't seen for twelve years, and someone who has never forgiven her for divorcing her husband and abandoning her daughter to flee to Shanghai. In the end, the penniless Aunt had no choice but to leave Shanghai and return to Anshan in the Northeast to live with her ex-husband, DaFan and Guo Feng in a small and shabby apartment. Kuan Kuan comes to visit his aunt on the eve of a trip to Australia to get treatment for his leg. Mrs. Ye has had to adjust all her ambitions and expectations.
Birthday Gift 2007 - Create Your Story for Vicki (PDF)
Sohu Visit: Zhao Wei, Li Qiang talk about [Aunt]
Zhao Wei enjoying her 'stint' as chef in Anshan
