The literary era since 1979

The Cannes Film Festival usually lasts 12 days, during which there will be various film screenings, discussions, receptions and media interviews.

"Farewell My Concubine" was never taken off the screen from beginning to end, but the number of theaters showing it was reduced from two to one. After all, such a long time had passed, and the audience attending the Cannes Film Festival had basically seen it once, and the enthusiasm for watching movies gradually subsided.

However, even so, the organizing committee still reserved a theater for "Farewell My Concubine" for audiences to watch repeatedly.

Gong Xing, Zhang Yimou, Zhang Guorong, Jiang Wen and others attended other film screenings either voluntarily or by invitation to learn and communicate with each other.

For example, "Storm Hill", "Southern", "Rookie Parker"...

The corresponding program ratings were released one after another, but none of them scored higher than "Farewell My Concubine".

Even though "Pell the Conqueror" was given a high score of 3.1 by the media, it was still 0.7 points away from "Farewell My Concubine".

In fact, the "3.8 points" of "Farewell My Concubine" can be said to be the highest score given by the media at the Cannes Film Festival so far.

It is the highest score that broke the Cannes Film Festival program record!

Therefore, there is no doubt that "Farewell My Concubine" was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival, competing for the Palme d'Or.

The film teams that unfortunately lost the selection left Cannes in frustration, but Fang Yan, Gong Xing, Gong Li and others stayed and carefully prepared for the closing ceremony.

In the hotel, Gong Xing, wearing a plain white cheongsam, ran out of the bathroom.

"How's it going? Does it look good?"

Seeing her showing him her battle robe, Fangyan looked her up and down, "To put it in Cantonese, that's stunningly beautiful!"

"If you change it to Jibei dialect, it means you are such a pretty girl!"

"If you change it to Shanghai dialect, it would be 'Nong Jinzhao Lao Piaoliang'!"

"Switch to Sichuan dialect..."

"That's enough. The more you talk, the more you lose your way."

Gong Xing's cheeks turned slightly red due to the praise and he couldn't stop smiling.

Fangyan couldn't help but shake his head and laugh at her "hypocrisy", and then the two of them walked out of the room and ran into Gong Li, Zhang Yimou and others.

Gong Li was seen wearing a white shirt with a knot at the bottom, revealing her slender waist, and paired with black trousers, looking dashing and elegant.

"Hey, Xiaoli, this is the first time I see you dressed like this."

Gong Xing's eyes lit up, "Good for you, you're actually keeping secrets from your sister!"

Gong Li smiled shyly and glanced at Zhang Yimou who was grinning beside her, with a hint of intrigue in her eyes.

"Ahem, let's go!"

Fangyan cleared his throat and then brought Zhang Guorong, Jiang Wen, Chen Kaige and others to the closing ceremony venue.

At this moment, people old and young, male and female, Chinese and foreigners, crowded in.

Many guys who looked like reporters were carrying oversized cameras, making the already narrow entrance even more crowded.

On both sides of the gate, there was a French guard standing, maintaining order and checking red letters, and they were busy and exhausted.

"So many people!"

Gong Xing held Fangyan's arm, looked around, and couldn't help sighing.

"Who says it's not?"

Fangyan was also very depressed. There were too many people and they could only wait stupidly at the back.

The venue hall can accommodate 800 people, and the organizers estimated that there would be 600 guests.

But looking at this, the team hasn't shrunk at all, and there are still people constantly replenishing it, so it's guaranteed to be over a thousand.

So not long after, a guy who looked like a supervisor appeared in front, whispered a few words to the security guard, and began to call on his friends to move equipment. After some tinkering, there was a series of "clang" sounds, and a protective net was actually pulled open.

All the guests were shocked. Is it really that serious?
The situation was indeed chaotic. Everyone wanted to go in, so they had to listen to the instructions, line up one by one, and then hand over the invitation letters.

After all, with too many people, trouble is likely to occur. The organizers did not want to be embarrassed, so security work was instantly upgraded. With the mentality of rather killing the wrong person than letting him go, they initially checked the invitation cards in a formal manner, but later, seeing that it was endless, they simply gave up, closed the protective net, and refused entry to anyone.

If you want to come in, you can. It all depends on your ability.

Either you are familiar with the security guard, or you contact the person inside and ask him to come out to pick you up.

Fang Yan, Gong Xing and others have already established their presence and fame at the Cannes Film Festival thanks to their exposure and recognition in recent days, so when the supervisors saw them, they were in awe and let them in without a careful check, but those who tried to take advantage of the situation were not so lucky.

As soon as they stepped onto the red carpet, Gong Xing, Gong Li, Jiang Wen and others were much calmer because of their experience, and they waved their hands with smiles on their faces.

He walked slowly along the way, then stopped, twisted his body, and was photographed fiercely by major media outlets.

For many filmmakers and celebrities, these few tens of seconds may condense the highlights of their entire lives.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Fang Yan took Gong Xing's hand, walked through the noisy central area, and arrived at the foot of the stairs of the Palais Lumiere.

It is much quieter here, abandoning the star glitz and glamour, returning everything to the movies, and filled with a religious traditional atmosphere.

Just like at the opening ceremony, Giles Jacob stood quietly at the top of the stairs, opened his arms and hugged the other person warmly.

He thanked Fangyan from the bottom of his heart, because if a film festival wants to maintain its long-term competitiveness, it must rely on the activeness of young people.

It was this young man from the East who made this dull film festival shine, and brought the topic and exposure to the maximum.

It even surpassed the Berlin Film Festival which awarded the Golden Bear Award to "Red Sorghum", because the director of "Red Sorghum", Zhang Yimou, was also in Cannes!

…………

The lighting in the hall was soft and warm, subtly alleviating the irritability of some competitors. They greeted each other with smiles, or at least it seemed that way. Several people followed the instructions and turned into their seats with great effort. The women carefully held onto their long skirts for fear of getting them scratched.

"Are you going to the bathroom? Go quickly."

Before it starts, Fangyan reminded Gong Xing.

"No, I didn't even drink a sip of water."

Gong Xing shook his head, leaned on the back of the chair in front of him, and looked around curiously.

"Are you hungry?"

Fangyan said with concern.

"I'm hungry!"

Her face was full of grievance. In order to wear the cheongsam beautifully and maintain her demeanor, she had not eaten anything since noon.

"I brought some candy."

Fangyan reached into his pocket, took out a few pieces of fruit candy and distributed them to everyone.

Gong Xing grabbed a piece and stuffed it into his mouth, smacked it a few times, then turned his head and asked, "Mine is blueberry, how about yours?"

"I'm Lemon." Gong Li whispered.

“I’m an orange.”

Although Zhang Guorong was not hungry, he felt that eating some sugar could relieve the pressure in his heart.

"Pah, why is mine durian!"

Jiang Wen was completely confused.

"Alas!"

Gong Xian hugged Gong Li and stayed away from him, showing great disgust.

"Ha ha!"

Everyone laughed out loud, and with laughter and joy, the Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony officially began.

Giles Jacob gave the opening speech first, and then all ten judges came out to review and remember. Looking forward, it was full of high-level European jokes. Except for the dialect and the translation, who could understand it and smiled and nodded from time to time, the others looked at each other in confusion. Sure enough, cultural workers need to have more culture!
About half an hour later, the opening remarks finally ended after some bala bala.

The guests in the audience perked up and applauded enthusiastically while watching the judges walk onto the stage as award presenters.

The first awards given out were some small prizes that were comparable to leftovers, such as the Education Contribution Award, Technical Excellence Award, and Best Short Film Award.

When it was Nastassja Kinski's turn to go on stage, it was already the fifth award, the Camera d'Or, also known as the Best Directorial Debut Award. It is awarded to the most outstanding debut film among the participating films at each Cannes Film Festival. The key point is that it is not limited to the competition unit.

She didn't hesitate and opened the envelope directly, saying, "The winner of this year's Golden Camera Award is

Farewell, My Concubine! "

Although the English title "Farewell My Concubine" is very strange, it does not affect the speed of the dialect's neural reaction.

Gong Xing blinked, a little dazed, probably not yet successful in the restart.

Fang Yan gently touched her with his elbow, and she woke up as if from a dream, and heard bursts of applause and congratulations in her ears.

Gong Li simply held Gong Xing's hand, as if she was happy enough to win a prize, "That's great, Xiao Xing!"

Gong Yu stood up dazedly, and when he passed the man who was sitting still, he couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Aren't you going up?"

"This is an award for you. Why would I go up there?"

Fangyan smiled and shook his head, making room for her, and stretched out his hand in a gesture of invitation.

Gong Xing pursed his lips, his eyes flickering. This man had always been fighting with her on the front lines, and had never given up no matter how difficult it was.

As a result, now that he has obtained the honor, he suddenly gives up and gives up. I feel very depressed.

She walked up to the stage as slowly as possible, taking the trophy and certificate, and feeling the solid weight of the metal in her palms.

Just now I felt that at this moment, nothing is clearer.

"thank you!"

There were countless spectacles in the audience, but she only stared at that small spot and said, "I am honored. My first work came to Cannes and won this award. Thank you Yimou and Brother Kai. Without your help, Farewell My Concubine would not have been filmed so smoothly."

"Thanks to Guo Rong, Gong Li and Jiang Wen, you are all great. Your superb acting skills and professional attitude add icing on the cake to the movie!"

"Of course, the one I'm most grateful to is Fangyan. Even though you didn't come on stage, I still want to tell you that without you, there would be no movie. Thank you!"

"........."

Fangyan grinned and stood up and applauded.

Seeing this, Francis Coppola, who was not far away, also stood up out of respect.

When the guests present saw this scene, they were shocked. Even the great Francis Coppola stood up. How could they dare to sit still?

Then, the huge crowd of people all stood up and gave the warmest applause, whether it was sincere or not.

Fangyan smiled and said that this year's Golden Camera Award was given to Gong Xing, which was well deserved.

Although both Alan Ryder and Francis Coppola claimed that Gong Xing had directed many films, Gong Xing had accepted so many media interviews in recent days that all her details had been exposed. Farewell My Concubine is undoubtedly her real debut.

However, the translation of the title of "Farewell My Concubine" is really a bit eye-catching.

In ancient times, the word Ji referred to a concubine, whose status was lower than that of the main wife.

Corresponding to English, "concubine" is specifically used to express this meaning.

For example, before becoming the empress dowager, Cixi was a concubine, and many modern English documents refer to her as "concubine".

However, there is no direct corresponding word for the "Ba Wang" in "Farewell My Concubine", so only the "Bie Ji" part was translated, which is "Farewell, my concubine". I hope that when it is returned to China from overseas, it will not cause a joke similar to "Chang Kaishen".

"Farewell My Concubine" was inexplicably translated into "Goodbye, my little wife" or "Goodbye, my concubine".

…………

The applause rose and fell like the tide.

After Gong Xing stepped down from the stage, the trophy was immediately passed around among Zhang Yimou, Jiang Wen, Chen Kaige and others, who looked it up and down in amazement.

Fang Yan noticed that she sighed softly, with a hint of loss on her face.

"Why, you're still so unhappy after winning the award?"

"No, I just feel a little regretful."

Gong Xing shook his head.

"What regret?"

Dialects are very curious.

"You said so, the Cannes Film Festival basically divides the cake fairly, and a film can only win one award at most."

Gong Xing recalled what he had told himself: anyone who wins the Best Actor, Best Actress, or Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival will have no chance of winning the Palme d'Or.

Fang Yan said happily: "Look, you are worrying about nothing. The unspoken rules here do not include the Golden Camera Award."

Gong Xing was excited for a moment, "Really?!"

Fangyan nodded and said that the Golden Camera Awards include both the main competition unit and the non-main competition unit, so it naturally cannot be calculated in this way.

"That's fine, that's fine."

Gong Xing heaved a sigh of relief, and then he became more excited and began to look forward to the announcement of the award results.

There are only about ten awards in Cannes, and it won’t be long before it’s the turn of the Best Director.

But this time the honor did not fall on Gong Xing, but came from the Argentine director, Fernando Solanas.

The same was true for Best Actor and Best Actress, which still did not go to Jiang Wen, Zhang Guorong, or Gong Li.

Fang Yan comforted him in a gentle voice: "In fact, judging from your performance in Farewell My Concubine, I think both of you are world-class actors and actresses."

Gong Li and Zhang Guorong smiled, but they couldn't hide the loneliness on their faces.

"Teacher Fang, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that we didn't win the award."

Jiang Wen raised his eyebrows and said, "According to what you said, our chances of winning the Palme d'Or, the ultimate Cannes award, are even greater!"

When Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, Zhang Guorong and others heard this, they suddenly became excited and all their eyes turned towards the stage.

Ettore Scola, the chairman of this year's jury, walked up to the microphone holding an envelope containing the final winner.

"Good evening everyone."

"I am very happy to present the final Palme d'Or in person. To be honest, this award is what I have always dreamed of."

"But unfortunately, I never got the trophy I wanted, so I hesitated backstage, should I just secretly take the trophy and run away?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole room burst into laughter.

"Just kidding, I am honored that this Palme d'Or, which I have always coveted, will be passed from my hands to someone who deserves it today."

Ettore Scola opened the envelope, "This year's Palme d'Or is, Farewell, My Concubine!"

In an instant, countless eyes, applause, and cheers, like spotlights, gathered on Fang Yan, Gong Xing, Zhang Guorong and others.

Fang Yan and Gong Xing hugged each other tightly, then raised their arms and shouted, as if they were the kings of the movie world.

Zhang Guorong, Gong Li and others looked at each other and burst into tears of joy. The unhappiness of not winning the award before disappeared in an instant.

Although they did not win the Best Actor or Best Actress awards at the Cannes Film Festival and make history for Chinese-language films, they worked together to create a greater history.

"Farewell My Concubine" is the first and only Chinese-language film to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival! (End of this chapter)