Posted 7 Feb. 2023 at 2:00 PM
In a remote village in Gansu, a poor peasant marries a disabled woman whom no one wants. Together, they will manage to cultivate their field, build their farm… and love each other. However, all around them, the rural world disappears.
A rare humanist portrait of the Chinese countryside, “The Return of the Swallows” is a film of classic beauty and a rhythm marked by the seasons. Li Ruijun, a 40-year-old filmmaker, describes feelings like selflessness or patience.
Unexpected success in China, his film caused debate for its frontal description of the misery of the agricultural world. It ended up being banned, even though the Party had announced its victory over “great poverty”. For French viewers, “The Return of the Swallows” will above all recall the great Chinese cinema of the end of the last century: too forgotten films such as “The King of the Children” by Chen Kaige (1987) or “Qiu Ju, a Chinese Woman” by Zhang Yimou (1992). A cinema that smelled of earth before the storm.
The Return of the Swallows
chinese movie
de Li Ruijun.
Avec Wu Renlin, Hai Qing. 2 h 13.
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