Set in a small Chinese village where an illicit blood trade has spread AIDS to the community, LOVE FOR LIFE is the story of De Yi and Qin Qin, two victims faced with the grim reality of impending death, who unexpectedly fall in love and risk everything to pursue a last chance at happiness before it’s too late。
SYNOPSIS
In a small Chinese village where an illicit blood trade has spread AIDS to the community, the Zhao’s are a family caught in the middle. Qi Quan is the savvy elder son who first lured neighbors to give blood with promises of fast money while Grandpa, desperate to make amends for the damage caused by his family, turns the local school into a home where he can care for the sick. Among the patients is his second son De Yi, who confronts impending death with anger and recklessness.
At the school, De Yi meets the beautiful Qin Qin, the new wife of his cousin and a recent victim of the virus. Emotionally deserted by their respective spouses, De Yi and Qin Qin are drawn to each other by the shared disappointment and fear of their fate. With nothing to look forward to, De Yi capriciously suggests becoming lovers but as they begin their secret affair, they are unprepared for the real love that grows between them。
De Yi and Qin Qin’s dream of being together as man and wife, to love each other legitimately and freely, is jeopardized when the villagers discover their adultery. With their time slipping away, they must decide if they will surrender everything to pursue one chance at happiness before it’s too late。
PRODUCTION BACKGROUND: BEHIND THE SCENES
The idea for Love for Life began as Director Gu Changwei was preparing for his previous film, 2007’s And the Spring Comes. Filmmaker Jiang Wenli, an actress in the film and the director’s wife, had been shocked to learn of the phenomenon taking place in and around Henan Province: whole villages were being swallowed up by the AIDS epidemic, contracted through the selling of blood. Together, they slowly developed the story. Love for Life is based on real people and real events。
It took Director Gu three years to prepare Love for Life. Production began in 2009 and many famous actors came on board to be in the film, including Zhang Ziyi and Aaron Kwok. The actors were called to shed their worldliness and to transform themselves into people who led the most basic existences, characters who were anticipating death. Yet while Love for Life deals with the brevity of life, it also, more importantly, strives to show the dazzling moments that can arise in life, however short. With this film, Director Gu wanted to show that “when an epidemic hits and time is short, desires arise -- you cannot hold love back”。
Director Gu continues: “This is an age of advancement and the environment around us is changing with increasing speed. Everything is improving and becoming more convenient. This was one of the feelings that gave rise to the film. On one hand, I wanted to show and to allude to this improvement, to show villages developing into towns and cities, to see the standard of living rising quickly. On the other hand, you cannot ignore that in the process of moving forward so quickly, you lose things that you shouldn’t lose. It may look like we have it all but in reality, we don’t. We’ve lost a lot too. Maybe our improvement has been too quick and maybe God has had to step in to control the situation and to teach us that things cannot come so easily. And so we have to face disease and natural disasters and the like”。
“Isn’t it wonderful to live?” Director Gu adds. “I wanted to use another method to ‘praise’ life. Life is beautiful, don’t waste it. Just letting the days go by is a waste。”
Love for Life is a movie, but it’s also much more than that. During the script preparations, Director Gu hoped that the film could do something for the AIDS cause. As a result, the production invited real AIDS patients to participate in the filming and to become part of the crew, to live and to work alongside the production team. This time spent together was recorded in the documentary Together, directed by Zhao Liang and produced by
Gu Changwei. Director Gu hoped that by integrating the real situation into a fictional story and by sharing the experience with the world, audiences would become more aware of the truth about AIDS and that they would embrace and even spread the message of anti-discrimination。
FILMMAKERS
GU Changwei
Born in 1957 in Xi’an, Gu Changwei began his career as a cinematographer, having graduated from the Beijing Film Academy as part of the “Fifth Generation” with fellow classmates Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. Gu collaborated with them in 1987 on films like King of the Children (Chen Kaige) and Red Sorghum (Zhang Yimou) and later, in 1993, Gu also photographed Chen’s masterpiece Farewell My Concubine. In addition to Chinese films, Gu has worked on American projects as well, including Robert Altman’s 1997 film The Gingerbread Man。
Beginning in 2005, Gu began his foray into film directing with his debut film Peacock. The film was well-received and won the Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival. And the Spring Comes, Gu’s second feature, was released in 2007.
ZHANG Ziyi
Zhang Ziyi, renowned for her role in the global box office success Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is one of the most sought-after and famous actresses in China today. Born in 1979, Zhang Ziyi has been a part of numerous Chinese and international successes in the span of her career thus far and has worked with top directors like Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, Wong Kar-Wai, Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Rob Marshall on projects all over the world. The Independent Spirit Awards awarded her Best Supporting Female for her work in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2001 and in 2005, Zhang Ziyi won the Hong Kong Film Critics’ Best Actress Award for her role in Wong Kar-Wai’s 2046.
Aaron KWOK
Known for his singing, dancing, and acting, Aaron Kwok has been a prominent name in the Asian entertainment world since the 1990s. Born in 1965, he is one of the “Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings” with a long musical career in multiple styles and genres. He has been a breakthrough artist as well in the realm of dance, having initiated a “fast-dancing” trend in the early ‘90s。
Kwok began his acting career in the late 1980s with series like Rise of Genghis Kahn and Twilight of a Nation. One of his most memorable roles was in the TVB series Wars of Bribery in 1996. In 2006, Kwok became the second actor in Golden Horse Awards history to consecutively win the Best Actor Award. Kwok won for his work in After This Our Exile and the year before, he was awarded for his role in the film Divergence。
《Love for Life》
Stellar Mega Films Ltd/
Hing Lung Worldwide Group Limited/
Beijing Harmony &Harvest Media Ltd/
Beijing Forbidden City Film Co/
Pioneer TV &Movie Production Ltd of Chengdu Media Group
Present
A Gu Changwei Film《Love for Life》
StarringZhang Ziyi/Aaron Kwok
Co-StarringPu Cunxin/Jiang Wenli/Sun Haiyin/Tao Zeru/Wang
Baoqiang/Li Jianhua/Cai Guoqing/Li Danyang
EditorLi Dianshi
Original Score byZuoxiao Zuzhou
Sound DesignerGu Changning
Production DesignersWang Weiyuan/Han Dahai
Director of Photography Yang Tao /Christopher Doyle
Screenplay byYan Laoshi/Yang Weiwei/Gu Changwei
Line ProducerLi Kai
Produced byGu Changwei/Chen Xiaodong
Executive ProducersQin Hong/Bill Kong/Ma Hefeng/Zhang Qiang/
He Bing
Directed byGu Changwei
2011, Stellar Mega Films Ltd, Hing Lung Worldwide Group Limited, Beijing Harmony &Harvest Media Ltd, Beijing Forbidden City Film Co, Pioneer TV &Movie Production Ltd of Chengdu Media Group. All Rights Reserved。