As at 29.8.12
Release Publicity
Catherine Lavelle - CLPR T 02 9405 2880 M 0413 88 5595 E [email protected]
2
“Hur Jin-Ho’s adaptation re-imagines Shanghai as an opulent
eastern mirror image of 18th century Paris or 19th century Vienna,
with its grand operas, bed-hopping aristocrats and lavish society balls.
The costumes are a blazingly colorful pageant of velvet and silk,
the opulent interiors cathedrals to Art Nouveau grandeur.
All gleaming chrome and polished mahogany, gold leaf and stained glass,
the film is an immersively sensual experience."
The Hollywood Reporter
Australian Premiere
International Chinese Film Festival Opening Night
15 September 2012
In Cinemas 4 October 2012
Running Time 110 minutes Language Chinese Mandarin with English Subtitles Rating M – Mature Themes and Violence Australian Distributor Greenlight Releasing Cinemas Sydney Chauvel Cinema
Melbourne Kino Cinemas Brisbane Palace Barracks
Adelaide Palace Nova Eastend
3
Passion.Out of Control.
1930s Shanghai war looms over the glamorous and tumultuous
‘Paris of the East’
At a charity ball for refugees from the Japanese-occupied Northeast, the glamorous entrepreneur and libertine Mo Jieyu (Cecilia Cheung) strikes a deal with her ex-lover, the devastatingly handsome playboy Xie Yifan (Jang Dong-gun).
Mo’s most recent tycoon lover has dropped her for a young virginal schoolgirl. If Xie takes the girl’s virginity, he'll make a laughing stock out of the tycoon – and Miss Mo will give herself to Xie.
But Xie has his eyes on a different prize – the virtuous widow Du Fenyu (Zhang Ziyi).
As the stakes are raised higher and higher, the game becomes increasingly dangerous for everyone involved, particularly when Xie, despite himself, falls in love with Du. This epic story unfolds against the dramatic backdrop of the Japanese invasion of China. A powerful and mesmerising adaptation of the French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Jaclos.
4
Cast
Du Fenyu Zhang Ziyi
Xie Yifan Jang Dong-gun
Mo Jieyu Cecilia Cheung
Hu Li Lisa Lu
Dai Wenzhou Shawn Dou
5
Leading Cast
Zhang Ziyi is Du Fenyu
International superstar Ziyi Zhang first caught
international attention as one of the stars of
the multiple Oscar award-winning film
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. She
continued to work on an exceptionally
successful path of international hit films
including The Road Home, Hero, House of
Flying Daggers, 2046 and Memoirs of a
Geisha.
Ziyi has won eight Best Actress awards and in
addition to her role in Dangerous Liaisons
currently stars in the much anticipated The
Grandmasters directed by world renowned
auteur Wong Kar Wai.
Jang Dong-gun is Xie Yifan One of Asia’s biggest movie stars and star of
two unprecedented Korean box office smash
hits, Jang Dong-gun has been called “the
ultimate poster boy for Korean pop culture”
by CNN. His portrayal of a tough-talking
gangster in Friends earned him a Best
Supporting Actor Award and his leading
performance in the epic Taegukgi:
Brotherhood of War, the highest grossing
Korean film of all time, won him Best Actor at
the prestigious Blue Dragon Film Awards. He
has starred in numerous internationally
acclaimed films including Typhoon, The
Promise and The Warriors Way. In addition
to his role in Dangerous Liaisons, his latest
film is the Korean war epic, My Way.
6
Cecilia Cheung is Mo Jieyu
Cecilia Cheung is one of the most popular rising
stars in China both as an actress and pop
singer.
With the success of King of Comedy and
Shaolin Soccer, starring alongside Stephen
Chow in both films, Cecilia is one of the top box
office earners in Hong Kong.
Her performance in Lost In Time earned her
the Best Actress Award at the Hong Kong Film
Awards.
Other Cast
Lisa Lu is Hu Li
Lisa Lu is an established Chinese actress and producer and a regular jury member for
the Golden Globe Awards. She has won three Golden Horse awards and the You
Bring Charm to the World. Lisa Lu began her performing career in Hollywood in the
1950s. Her credits include The Last Emperor, Lust Caution, The Joy Luck and the
action-packed disaster-thriller and international blockbuster 2012.
Shawn Dou is Dai Wenzhou
Shawn Dou received recognition with his role in the 2010 Zhang Yimou romance
Under the Hawthorn Tree. His other films that have been well-received include The
Allure of Tears, Racer Legend and The Seal of Love. He currently appears in Zhang
Yimou’s epic war film Flowers of War which has been nominated as Best Foreign
Film for the 2012 Golden Globe Awards.
7
Director Hur Jin-ho
An award-winning Korean director renowned for
melodramas, Hur Jin-ho’s critically acclaimed debut
feature Christmas in August won five international
awards including Best Film and Best New Director at
the Blue Dragon Awards (Korean Oscars) and was
invited to be part of the Cannes Film Festival
Critique’s Section. His second film One Fine Spring
Day received the Artistic Contributions Award at the
Tokyo International Film Festival and the FIPRESCI
(International Federation of Film Critics) Award at the
Busan International Film Festival, and his feature April
Snow was an official selection at both the Toronto
International Film Festival and San Sebastian
International Film Festival. Hur Jin-Ho's 2007 hit feature Happiness won him a Best
Director at the Blue Dragon Awards.
Screenwriter Yan Geling
Yan Geling is one of the world’s most acclaimed bilingual (Chinese and English)
novelists and screenwriters. She has won multiple awards as a screenwriter and is an
Oscar jury member for the Best Screenplay category.
Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, adapted by Yan from her own novel of the same name
won seven Golden Horse Awards and was named one of Time Magazine's Ten Best
Films of 1999. Some of her English novels include The Banquet Bug and The Lost
Daughter of Happiness.
Her credits also include Forever Enthralled directed by legendary auteur Chen Kaige,
and master director Zhang Yimou’s latest film The Flowers of War, nominated for
Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Golden Globe Awards.
Producer Chen Weiming
Chairman of Zonbo Media and a celebrated producer, Chen’s films have won two
Cannes Film Festival awards including the Jury Prize for Devils On the Doorstep and
the International Critics Award for Crying First. His hit feature Chengdu, I love You
was invited to be the closing film of the 2009 Venice Film Festival.