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List Price: $24.99 | | Label: Palm Pictures
Salesrank: 27567
Released: March 11, 2008 |
| Our Price: $15.01 |
| Used Price: $10.25 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
From the director of Purple Butterfly and Suzhou River comes Lou Ye's sprawling epic Summer Palace . Yu Hong (Lei Hao) is a rebellious young woman from a small Chinese town transplanted to a politically charged Beijing University in the late 1980s. The country's social turmoil is witnessed through its disaffected youth, whose newfound sexuality and activism culminate in violent suppression. Spanning nearly 20 years of modern Chinese history, Summer Palace projects the country's struggle for definition through the eyes and heart of a young woman illequipped to handle it. While drifting between the arms of two men, her love fervent for both, Yu Hong's existential crisis mirrors that of her nation. Will the chaos of society lead her to its same tragic fate?
Description of Summer Palace:
Summer Palace, a politically charged drama from director Lou Ye (Purple Butterfly, Suzhou River), telling the story of Chinese political upheaval through the eyes of protagonist Yu Hong (Lei Hao) who moves from her rural community to embrace life in Beijing. Spanning nearly 20 years, the film elucidates the mindset of the Chinese revolutionary youth during the 1980s and into the new millennium through its narration by Hong, who reads diary excerpts to set scenes. Though footage of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations spliced in among the dramatized imagery relegated Summer Palace to banned status by the Chinese government, the film feels tame compared to Western dramas. In it, Yu falls in love with Zhou Wei (Xiaodong Guo), who haunts her in later relationships once she leaves school. Strikingly romantic, Summer Palace is slow-paced but cinematically lovely, with long sequences illustrating dorm room life, dates, dinner parties, and Hong's intimate exchanges with girlfriends like Li Ti (Ling Hu). Dark indoor settings alternate with sunlit outdoor moments, to set a moody, reflective tone. As Hong matures emotionally and sexually, we meet other lovers like Xiao Jun (Lin Cui), but passion between her and Zhou Wei never weakens. To the film's credit, the love story doesn't flatten or oversimplify the complex historical plot that explains how innocent students could be considered threats to conservative political regimes. Though meandering, Summer Palace encapsulates an important moment in Chinese history and will especially enlighten viewers to the nuances of people struggling for freedom. --Trinie Dalton
Summer Palace Reviews:
The naked truth, blemishes and all 
2009-05-07 - "Because it is only when we make love that you understand that I'm gentle."
That's all the character development I need. This is an ambitious film about the stalled maturation of an idealistic but troubled young woman flanked by the Tiananmen Square protests, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the handover of Hong Kong to mainland China. The film spans a decade and a half from 1987 to 2003 so I guess the misery of Three Gorges Dam couldn't make the final cut. The direction is a little chaotic at times but it reflects the nature of the film and doesn't come off as too much of a liability. The soundtrack is impeccably chosen and the film is ultimately very sad. I was glued to this 140 minute masterpiece. Politics aside, and they are on the side, this is a remarkable film in its honest portrayal of failure, not of personal character necessarily, but of circumstance.
This is another film that got its director and producer banned for five years from making films in China. Maybe it's the full-frontal nudity or the sheer quantity of sex scenes but I don't see the need for hubbub. The film is about a woman's self-reflection on why she finds comfort in the arms of different men. We see her naked inside and out. She is afraid to love out of fear, fear of something she hasn't yet experienced, but isn't that the scariest kind of fear?
There are a number of things wrong with the film, perhaps, but very little could be done to improve it. Great films succeed in spite of their weaknesses. I'm not a fan of off camera narration but it works for me here. It seems additional rather than necessary. There is a maturity to the woman's voice as she narrates with entries from her diary that compliments, does not seem at odds with, the can't-quite-grow-up activities of the woman on screen. In order to get from the Berlin Wall to the Hong Kong Handover, 1989 to 1997, we're treated to narrative onscreen text to fill us in on what's happening to the characters. Ordinarily that would be a deal breaker for me, in theory at least, but again, it works. Finally, as if this were a real story about real people, after the final denouement occurs we're given updates on what happened or didn't happen to the principle characters. Frankly, as gut-wrenchingly sad but true as the final scene is I wish it would have just faded to black. But I think it's a tribute to the strength of the characters that I found myself intrigued by the postscript.
Having said that, I think one could argue that from a strictly script perspective a little more fleshing out was in order ... and I don't mean that full-frontally. I think it comes down to this: if you've ever known passionate, poetic, misguided people, you know these people right away. They're part beautiful and part brutal, there's no talking them out of it. That's the point. This film doesn't set out to explain, diagnose, or change its characters. It just wants to show them to you in all their painful glory, and I think it does a very good job of it. Then again, maybe it's just a case of been there, done that.
Haunting love with a political backdrop 
2008-12-08 - When I decided to see this film, I thought I will be watching a movie about the Tiananmen Square student revolt in 1989 China. These students demonstrations have echoed all over the world and reflecting on it 20 years later seemed to give a viewer a second chance on understanding student revolutions. Personally, I wanted to understand if there was any similarity in Chinese student uprising compared to the student uprising in 1960s Eastern Europe. But once I started watching the movie, I have realized that this is a deeply personal reflection of a young provincial girl, on her own in a big city (Beijing), first generation in her family to study in college. She is unable to handle emotional whirlwind of sexual awakening she experiences with one of her colleagues and that experience is defining the rest of her life in terms of her education, profession, personal disappointments and emotional failures. Her small circle of friends is part of the uprisings and the outcome of it: personal, political and emotional stay with all of them for the rest of their lives.
For anyone who has ever thought of sex as a good passing time, this film is a reminder that sex can also scar a parson forever. It is also a film that reflects on the fact that all revolutions, no matter how big or small are spontaneous and held by the masses no matter how innocent they are. Chinese governement was ready to supress students by using all means necessary and it was a lesson for all because in the last 20 years one cannot say we have heard of any other uprising there since. Although film feels like dragging at times, and some of the sex scenes are unnecessary it is a haunting story about time and a place for one of a kind love that cannot be recaptured ever again. It is kind of love that leave everyone involved damaged (or dead) forever.
Raunchy 
2008-09-08 - This story takes place during the student riots and seeks to give you a taste of the student life at the time by following a young chinese girl's journey. There is a lot of sex in this movie and almost showboating in a way. The amount is so much I question whether it's a realistic picture of the student life during that time because all the time having sex where did they find the time to protest?
Fails to replicate Suzhou River
2008-08-15 - Summer Palace tries but falls short of replicating the magical balance, symmetry and focus of Lou Ye's previous 'Suzhou River.' The lovemaking scenes are certainly effective but way too long, the story rambles and the impact of the politics of the times is not clear and sometimes seems contrived. Still a nice movie, but if you have seen 'Suzhou River' this one doesn't quite reach that level.
chinese soft porn big chill
2008-07-21 - this movie is the big chill chinese version-- w tiannamin sq instead of our kent state etc--- following (like the slightly better but also overrated big chill ) a bunch of young soon to be free spirits --in college---discovering their bodies, orgasms -- the protagonist girl esp- she really likes her newfound pleasure principle at it were and we see her attaining new heights in this categroy quite a bit- in fact most scenes devolve into sex scenes as she hops around like most college kids i guesss discovering themselves and who they are--what they like how they like it etc- but alas that never lasts too long- society and govt and the staus quo beats them/us into submission soon enough---the movie is a bit ludicrous tho-- the so called politics are never explored at all---- which i fine cuz i hate politics anyway---- but to have a rep as a movie about politics is ridiculous as this movie is really a soft porn flick disguised as something else---the guy who gives her the best sex-- she spends the whole movie regretting having blowning him off- but she finds him again--like 2o yeaRS LATER at the very end--- and not much happens even then---anti climactic to say the least despite all the other climaxes we glimpse so often in this fairly predictable coming of age type movie- the backgrounds to the plethora of sex scenes are minimal -any serious themes ignored and/or under explored -tiannenam sq- a blur of fire smoke armed men w mean guns- kids rushing all about---its totally whitewashed of any seriousness or reality or brutality- its like a disney version of tianneman sq- dreamlike in its slapdash and sophomoric look--but if we remember that the movie is told and seen thru the eyes of a self obsessed horny young lady--its probably just how she saw it----shallow! the most interesting thing about the movie i think-- was my own realization while watching -- that in life kids who seek it find liberation at first-- only for society to punish and repress and oppress them into submission -- and the sublimation of all their greater instincts and passions and lust for life is sublimated w their individuality----returning them to the objects instead of people they could be-- so society -- can use them and abuse them for their own nefarious means---just like this country in the sixties-- the whole movement of freedom -- squashed really--successfully--- as the hippies became yippies then yuppies--- and finally more like guppies i guess u could say---i feel like i get 5 stars for making these revelatory connections and epiphanies--because if the director had this in mind--- he displayed it only competently enough to liberate me from the tedium of watching it-to muse on my own -what he barely hinted at-----the directors focus- the diarist-- her sexual life--his seemimg obsession w it--at the cost of any other themes here--- and that one guy she spends most of the movie pining after- dreaming about him while having sex w whoever --all her other lovers husbands or what have you- take precedence -----but to be fair-- there are moments in the movie -- that are very poignant-----the moments that seemed to freeze time-- the moments that made me think about youth- liberation freedom and rearing its head-- how society invariably succeeeds in its repression /sublimation-- the way societies crush individuality-because they have no use for it-- and it in fact threatens their whole existence---there a a few of those moments----no one in the movie certainly shows any understanding/appreciation of this ---- like i say the movie is really mostly the story of a girls sexual life--and her and the directors seemingly shallow obsession w it-- the rest just backdrop----i truly do not beleive even the director saw such themes consciously in this movie- i think therefore that w this movie-- there is more said than even the director imagined----but he presented it all enough for the connections to be made----and tho the plot-- flimsy as it is-barely kept our interest---spiced up by the young ladys active libido every ten minutes or so---it did haVE THESE FEW MAGIcAL MOMENTS-- WHERE THE CAMERA TAKES ITS TIME- AND WE ACTUALLY GLIMPSE A REALITY HERE-- one scene i remember-- in germany-berlin i think---where after tianneneman sq- some of the gang move on to -other places of political upheaval-- just in time for that wall to come down --- the guy the diarist pines after- her best long lost lover--- in conversation w an american - she spoke english-- them talking about his going back to china--- us thinking of the re union that might finally take place w our horny self obsessed diarist-- there are a few moments in this scene that hint at the despair of waning youth--- loss-- things going and moving on-- but at a price----- theres a suicide in the movie-- moments there ring true too--- and penetrate and resonate off the much explored eros theme--- the young suicide off a building-in view of her young lover-- our diarist's lover-the one and same----the suicide-also a friend of our diarist--the seeming causual self obsessed concerns and unconcerns we all had in youth----not committing to anything involvng intimacy--being unable--unready-- unaware----as i re play the movie in my mind i actually give it 5 stars-- but i was always on the brink while watching it--of shutting it off out of frustration--every scene devloving into soft porn and fairly loveless meaningless sex----so i actually think it was what i brought to the movie-and what you may bring -in the themes it got me to explore in my own head--and maybe yours-even tho the movie didnt explore them that well----and what the title summer palace means-- i have no idea---i re dub it chinese soft porn big chill---and by the time the lovers finally re hook up-- thats what we get-- a big chill-----the thrill seems gone and passion fire gone out----an existential moment----and the credits catch us up w the characters-- much as we have done here ad infinitum-- and have mostly moved on to mocking such conceits---in this thing we arent really much interested-- the thoughtless lover-- our horny onery diarist--- the world has seemingly well tampered them & the fire of their passions---i have to watch the end of the big chill again--- were the people in that movie-heading down the path of entropy and the seeming oblivion of lost youth and a dead life--- or is it only here in this movie where it's so strkingly apparent? interesting questions and i guess the movie resonates more in retrospect that upon its intial viewing-----i guess i like it after all---or MORE what it made me think uopn ANYWAY ! SEE WHAT YOU THINK--- its not a total waste of time -
