Happy Times

  • Zhao Benshan Zhao
  • Dong Jie Wu Ying, the blind girl
  • Fu Biao
  • Li Xuejian: Li friend
  • Dong Lifan: fat woman

Happy Times is a tragicomedy of Chinese director Zhang Yimou.

Action

The retired factory worker Zhao would like to find a wife and vying for a greedy, fat lady. In order to convince them that he is wealthy, he needs 50,000 yuan. With his friend Li he builds from a disused van to the " Happy Times Hotel ", a love nest for young couples that the two rent by the hour. His Future against it are promptly made ​​as a manager of a large hotel.

These lives with her spoiled son and her ex-husband, Wu Ying very neglect in the true sense, blind daughter together. Because they, like loswäre the blind stepdaughter, who leads a Cinderella existence with her, she demanded of Zhao, the girl to gain a job in his hotel. Zhao takes the girl in, but when he reached her the bus, he sees just how it is transported to the scrap yard.

In the meantime, the stepmother Wu has sold stuff and leave her room her son. She continues to insist that girls should work with Zhao in the hotel, and proposes to set them as a masseuse. Since Zhao wants to maintain the illusion that he concocts with other retired friends from a deception for the blind girl. In an abandoned warehouse they install a dummy hotel with a massage parlor. Zhao's friends posing as customers and pay Wu generous with his money. Wu is happy and dreams to earn enough money to travel to her father and pay for an eye operation can. Zhao closes the girl's heart, sold his television, to buy her a colorful summer dress, and invents news of her father. As Zhao's money threatens scarce and the hotel dizziness fly up, the friends, Wu begin with counterfeit money from rice paper to pay. Wu plays with more, although it has the fraud out long ago, but in the beautiful world of illusion, the erlügt Zhao for her to be happy.

Zhao, however, decides to blind Wu and his fiance finally tell the truth. When he visits his future bride, he finds out that she has cheated on him and in the meantime married a really rich man. The last scenes indicate the end of the " happy times " to: The injured Zhao is in the hospital, the blind Wu mistaken 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 was shown in competition at the Berlinale 2002 ( out of competition)
  • Predicate: particularly valuable
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