Happy Times

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Movie
German title Happy Times
Original title Chinese   幸福 時光  /  幸福 时光 , Pinyin Xìngfú Shíguāng
Country of production China
original language Chinese
Publishing year 2001
length 102 minutes
Rod
Director Zhang Yimou
script Gai Zi , Mo Yan (template)
production Terrence Malick ,
Zhou Ping ,
Yang Qinglong ,
Zhang Weiping ,
Zhao Yu
music San Bao
camera Hou Yong
cut Zhai Rui
occupation

Happy Times is a tragic comedy by Chinese director Zhang Yimou .

action

The retired factory worker Zhao wants to find a wife and vies for a fat lady who is greedy for money. To convince them that he is wealthy, he needs 50,000 yuan. With his friend Li, he is converting a disused minibus into the "Happy Times Hotel", a love nest for young couples that the two rent out by the hour. He promptly pretends to be the manager of a large hotel to his future colleague.

She lives with her spoiled son and the blind daughter of her divorced husband, Wu Ying, who is neglected in the true sense of the word . Since she would like to get rid of the blind stepdaughter who leads a Cinderella existence with her , she demands that Zhao find the girl a job in his hotel. Zhao takes care of the girl, but when he reaches the bus with her, he just sees it being transported to the junkyard.

In the meantime, the stepmother has sold Wu's things and left her room to her son. She continues to insist that the girl work at Zhao's hotel and suggests hiring her as a masseuse . Since Zhao wants to keep up the appearance, he and other retired friends devise a deception for the blind girl. They install a hotel dummy with a massage parlor in an abandoned warehouse. Zhao's friends pose as customers and generously pay Wu with his money. Wu is happy and dreams of making enough money to travel to see her father and pay for an eye operation. Zhao takes the girl to the heart, sells his television set to buy her a brightly colored summer dress, and invents news from her father. When Zhao's money is running out and the hotel hoax threatens to be exposed, the friends begin to reward Wu with counterfeit rice paper money. Wu continues to play along, although she has long since seen through the deception, but is happy in the beautiful illusory world that Zhao lies for her.

Zhao, however, decides to finally tell the truth to the blind Wu and his fiancée. When he visits his future bride, he finds out that she has betrayed him and has now married a really rich man. The last scenes in the film indicate the end of the "happy times": The injured Zhao is in the hospital, the blind Wu wanders alone through the streets of the big city.

background

The film is based on the story "Shifu, you'll do anything for a laugh" by Mo Yan .

Awards

  • The film ran in the competition of the Berlinale 2002 (out of competition)
  • Predicate: particularly valuable

Web links