A widower's entertainment

Chapter 385 [News from the Film Festival] (Please Subscribe)
Xinghua Hutong, Beijing.

Now that Lin Zhaoxi has been admitted to Yanjing Medical University, she will become a college student when the new semester starts. Lin Youcheng truly feels that his daughter has grown up.

"Xi'er, when you go to university, do you still want to live at home?"

Lin Youcheng knew that students would definitely live in school dormitories, but considering that Lin Zhaoxi would not live in the courtyard house for a long time, Lin Youcheng could feel that his children would gradually leave this place as they grew up.

Although he wasn't alone, he still felt somewhat disoriented.

Lin Zhaoxi said with a smile, "Dad, I'll come back to stay when I have time during university, since the university is in Beijing."

This could also be another piece of good news. If it were another school in another city, Lin Zhaoxi might have to go to study in another city all by himself.

Lin Zhaoxi knew that this was also a condition created for them by her father. Students from other places might want to get into the capital, but she was in the capital.

Lin Youcheng nodded and said, "If there's anything you want to buy during this holiday, just buy it. If you don't have enough money, just tell Dad."

Lin Youcheng also gave Lin Zhaoxi a gift, some books related to clinical medicine. He knew that Lin Zhaoxi loved reading and studying, so he naturally thought of giving Lin Zhaoxi money as well, since Lin Zhaoxi was very sensible and would never spend money recklessly.

As in previous years, Lin Youcheng would let Lin Zhaoxi keep the New Year's money himself, but it was different for the other children; he would keep it for them first.

Lin Zhaoxi said with a smile, "I know, I have enough money."

Lin Youcheng would never cut off his daughter's money. He was still thinking about whether to buy a house near the school if Lin Zhaoxi was not used to living in the school dormitory. Of course, he only thought about this once. Although he could buy a house, since he already had a house in Beijing, it was just a matter of buying a house in a different place. But there was still no need for his child to live there.

Although Lin Zhaoxi had a hard childhood and was very sensible, he had not yet graduated from university and was still in school, so it was best for him to have everything the same as other students.

Not to mention that Lin Zhaoxi already lives in the capital, so he can always go back to the courtyard house.

Lin Youcheng doesn't need to worry about Lin Zhaoxi; he needs to worry about the other younger ones.

Of course, Lin Zhaoxi also helps him take care of these younger ones, which has saved him a lot of trouble as a father.

Lively and festive occasions often occur in the courtyards of Xinghua Hutong. Now, Lin Zhaoxi has been admitted to Yenching Medical University. In addition, news has also come from Taiwan. Or rather, it's not from Taiwan, but from the Venice Film Festival.

Hou Xiaoxian's film "Love" was nominated for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival.

Without a doubt, the Venice International Film Festival is a highly prestigious film festival. Founded in 1932, it is arguably the world's oldest international film festival and is hailed as the "father of international film festivals." As the world's first international film festival, its highest award, the Golden Lion, is considered one of the highest honors in the international film industry, alongside the Cannes Palme d'Or and the Berlin Golden Bear.

The film festival aims to "serve film as a serious art form," adheres to the core goal of "raising the level of film art," and takes pure artistry as the sole criterion for judgment. It is held annually from late August to early September on the Lido Island in Venice, Italy.

Everyone in the domestic film industry knows that Hou Xiaoxian's film "Love" was written by Lin Youcheng. Moreover, when news of their collaboration first broke, it was said that Lin Youcheng had written a very impressive script for Hou Xiaoxian.

The collaboration between these two powerful individuals has resulted in a film that has been shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival, generating considerable discussion in China.

It's worth noting that in addition to Hou Xiaoxian and Lin Youcheng's film "Love," Zhang Guoshi's "The Story of Qiu Ju" was also selected for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival this year.

These two are competing for the Golden Lion Award at the same time!

Back in 1989, Hou Xiaoxian's "A City of Sadness" was the first Chinese film to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, which was quite remarkable. At that time, Xie Jin, a Chinese director, was also a member of the jury. This time, the jury for the main competition did not have any Chinese members, or even any Asian members.

Many filmmakers in China are curious about which of these two films will win the major award.

It's worth noting that if Hou Xiaoxian wins the Golden Lion Award, it will be his second time receiving the award.

Lin Youcheng knew very well that in another timeline, the director who won the Golden Lion Award twice in China was Zhang Guoshi, with one film, "The Story of Qiu Ju," and another, "Not One Less," both of which won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival.

As for this competition between "The Story of Qiu Ju" and "Love", although Lin Youcheng knew that "The Story of Qiu Ju" was very strong, he also knew that "Love" was not weak either. The original film "Love" won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Otherwise, Hou Xiaoxian would have been so eager to make this film after reading the script.

Hou Xiaoxian is known for her delicate emotional films, and this time, the story of a husband killing his wife out of love is an absolutely heart-wrenching and extreme tale of human nature. The fact that it has been nominated for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival is proof that this story is not bad.

Although Zheng Xiaolong works in the television drama industry, he is well aware of the high status of the three major European film festivals. Now that Lin Youcheng's script "Love" has been adapted into a film and shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival, it naturally piques his curiosity.

"Youcheng, everyone's been saying that your collaboration with Hou Xiaoxian on the script 'Love' is amazing. What's the story behind it?"

Lin Youcheng couldn't help but laugh when he heard Zheng Xiaolong's words. In fact, many people still didn't know that this story was the one whose name was only mentioned briefly in "The Reader".

Only a few people actually know this story. At that time, Hou Xiaoxian wanted to make a film called "The Reader," and Lin Youcheng told Hou Xiaoxian the story of "Love."

"The story of 'Love' is very simple. It's about an elderly couple. The wife suffers a stroke and becomes paralyzed on one side. She wants to commit suicide, and the husband gives in to her wishes by suffocating her with a pillow."

"..."

These few simple words froze Zheng Xiaolong completely; his hand, which was holding a teacup, hung in mid-air, motionless.

Zheng Xiaolong never expected that the script "Love" written by Lin Youcheng would be like this, which really stunned him.

I never expected that!
These few simple words struck Zheng Xiaolong like a thunderclap. As an artist himself, he could naturally imagine how heavy the story behind this simple description must be—murder and bloodshed, unforgettable, even giving him a strange sense of reality.

This eerie sense of realism seems to suggest that someone might actually kill their paralyzed lover with their own hands out of love.

Even without reading the entire script, Zheng Xiaolong could already imagine it.
Zheng Xiaolong smirked, looking at Lin Youcheng with shock in his eyes, and said, "Youcheng, you really are cruel." Hearing Zheng Xiaolong's words, Lin Youcheng couldn't help but laugh.

Lin Youcheng understood what Zheng Xiaolong meant.

Zheng Xiaolong stared intently at Lin Youcheng, his mind still replaying Lin Youcheng's words. He could imagine just how cruel this story called "Love" truly was. This story, seemingly simple, was profoundly profound, filled from beginning to end with the tearing apart of human nature: aging, death, illness, loneliness—the things no one wants to experience in life, the cruelty that everyone knows but keeps silent about. Lin Youcheng had written it so realistically, and when it was adapted for the screen, the cruelty was truly amplified.

Imagine, who would smother their wife with a pillow!
How exactly will this actor act in that instant?

Zheng Xiaolong was already eager to know how the actors in Hou Xiaoxian's film would portray this deeply moving yet cruelly tragic story.

"Did Hou Hsiao-hsien hire actors from Taiwan?"

Lin Youcheng nodded and said, "We found actors from Taiwan."

Hou Xiaoxian also spoke with Lin Youcheng about the three actors. The actress playing the elderly wife is veteran actress Tang Ruyun, who previously played the grandmother who longed to return to the mainland in Hou Xiaoxian's "A Time to Live, A Time to Die," for which she won the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress. This film was also nominated for the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival. She also starred in Edward Yang's "A Brighter Summer Day." She is definitely a veteran actress.

As for the actor's husband, he is also a veteran actor, Lang Xiong, who won the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor as early as 1976. Last year, he won the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor again for his role in the film "Pushing Hands" by Li An. He is definitely a veteran actor. Lin Youcheng knew that Lang Xiong would originally win the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor three more times for his role in "The Wedding Banquet" by Li An. However, things may be different now. He may win the Best Actor award for his role in the film "Love".

Both of them are veteran actors. Lin Youcheng naturally trusted Hou Xiaoxian's casting choice. However, the actress who played the daughter surprised Lin Youcheng. It turned out to be Zhang Aijia.

This was quite unexpected for Fat Lin Youcheng, after all, Sylvia Chang's acting skills are beyond question. She has won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress twice, and is also an absolute acting powerhouse who has won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress and the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Lin Youcheng admires Hou Xiaoxian for finding this actress to play the daughter in the movie "Love". After all, the role is small and the room for performance is limited. Moreover, Zhang Aijia has already started making her own movies.

Clearly, Lin Youcheng was unaware that Zhang Aijia had agreed to play the role because she was deeply moved after reading Lin Youcheng's script, which led her to accept the role of the daughter.

Lin Youcheng didn't want to tell Zheng Xiaolong who the actors were, since both leads were veteran actors from Taiwan. He simply said, "I believe Director Hou's film will be good."

"That's for sure!"

Zheng Xiaolong nodded repeatedly. After all, he was a director who had won both the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion. How could his films be bad? Moreover, the film had already been shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival.

"I really want to go to the Venice Film Festival to see your film, 'Love'."

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "I think you probably want to go to America."

Zheng Xiaolong smiled. He knew Lin Youcheng was teasing him, but he didn't mind. He then said, "How did you come up with the idea to write the story 'Love'? It sounds like something that actually happened."

Lin Youcheng said with a smile, "I thought of this story when I was writing 'The Reader,' but I hadn't decided whether to write it. In the end, I wrote it as a movie script. The reason I didn't write it as a short story is because the story is quite simple."

"Your story is anything but simple!"

Zheng Xiaolong shook his head and sighed, "Both 'The Reader' and your 'Love' are not simple."

Lin Youcheng thought that Zheng Xiaolong might not know that "Love" was mentioned in "The Reader," so he couldn't help but say, "Actually, 'Love' was mentioned in the novel 'The Reader'."

"What did you say?"

Zheng Xiaolong was stunned; this was something he hadn't expected.

"Does the novel 'The Reader' mention 'Love'?"

Clearly, Zheng Xiaolong was unaware of this matter. Not only was Zheng Xiaolong unaware, but many people would not know that the novel "Love" mentioned only briefly in the novel "The Reader" actually refers to "Love".

Zheng Xiaolong was quite surprised. He had watched "The Reader" but had no idea that the story of "Love" was in it.

Even Zheng Xiaolong was recalling the show "The Reader" that he had watched, but he also knew that the young Jiang Xia in "The Reader" was reading a novel to the middle-aged woman Yang Ju.

Lin Youcheng smiled, not surprised by Zheng Xiaolong's unexpected reaction, and said, "It was just mentioned briefly. The novel Jiang Xia read to Yang Ju contained the story of 'Love'."

Zheng Xiaolong was truly astonished.

If Lin Youcheng hadn't mentioned it, who would have known that the cruel story of "Love" was read aloud on the show "The Reader"?

Of course, the story of "The Reader" is also very cruel.

Zheng Xiaolong stared straight at Lin Youcheng, his eyes filled with shock.

Lin Youcheng was well aware that "Love" was just a story that was mentioned in passing, and it was impossible to know or discover it. But this would not affect the moving nature of the story of "The Reader", nor would it affect the fact that the story of "Love" itself was amazing.

The question now is whether the Venice Film Festival jury will be moved by the amazing story of "Amour," what their decision will be, and whether it will win an award.

These are all uncertain and unknown.

However, Lin Youcheng felt that no matter what, overseas filmmakers might soon see another amazing story after "The Truman Show".

(End of this chapter)