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IMDbPro

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

  • 2011
  • PG-13
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
6.1/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
Bingbing Li in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011)
 	A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.
Play trailer2:04
8 Videos
35 Photos
DramaHistory

A story set in nineteenth-century China and focusing on the life-long friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid social norms imposed o... Read allA story set in nineteenth-century China and focusing on the life-long friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid social norms imposed on women.A story set in nineteenth-century China and focusing on the life-long friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid social norms imposed on women.

  • Director
    • Wayne Wang
  • Writers
    • Angela Workman
    • Ron Bass
    • Michael Ray
  • Stars
    • Bingbing Li
    • Jun Ji-hyun
    • Vivian Wu
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.1/10
    4.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Wayne Wang
    • Writers
      • Angela Workman
      • Ron Bass
      • Michael Ray
    • Stars
      • Bingbing Li
      • Jun Ji-hyun
      • Vivian Wu
    • 32User reviews
    • 50Critic reviews
    • 42Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 1 nomination total

    Videos8

    Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
    Trailer 2:04
    Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Nu Shu
    Clip 1:12
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Nu Shu
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Nu Shu
    Clip 1:12
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Nu Shu
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Reunited
    Clip 1:08
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Reunited
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Laotong
    Clip 0:48
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Laotong
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Foot Binding
    Clip 1:10
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Foot Binding
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Girl Talk
    Clip 0:46
    Snow Flower And The Secret Fan: Girl Talk

    Photos35

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    Top cast38

    Edit
    Bingbing Li
    Bingbing Li
    • Nina…
    Jun Ji-hyun
    Jun Ji-hyun
    • Snow Flower
    • (as Gianna Jun)
    • …
    Vivian Wu
    Vivian Wu
    • Aunt
    Russell Wong
    Russell Wong
    • Bank CEO
    Archie Kao
    Archie Kao
    • Sebastian
    Coco Chiang
    Coco Chiang
    • Anna
    Hu Qing Yun
    • Mrs. Liao
    • (as Jingyun Hu)
    Shiping Cao
    • Mr. Wei
    • (as Shi Ping Cao)
    Ruijia Zhang
    • Mrs. Wei
    Zhebing Gong
    • Professor
    Lilia Zhou
    • Nurse
    Congmeng Guo
    • Little Lily
    Danping Shen
    Danping Shen
    • Lily's Mother
    Yan Dai
    • Little Snow Flower
    Yulan Xu
    • Snow Flower's Mother
    Shiming Wang
    • Foot Binder
    Shouqin Xu
    • Lily's Father
    Ying Tang
    • Madame Wang
    • Director
      • Wayne Wang
    • Writers
      • Angela Workman
      • Ron Bass
      • Michael Ray
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews32

    6.14.1K
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    Featured reviews

    10dhaufrect-1

    A winner is ""Snow Flower And The Secret Fan".

    Wayne Wang has directed another winner, "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". It is a well designed "chick flick" that overcomes ones emotions to the point of great empathy for both the characters and the eras in which it is set. Bingbing Li plays Nina/Lily, and Gianna Jun stars as Snow Flower/Sophia. They are like blood sisters who rotate back and forth from the 19th to the 21st centuries. The story is compelling. The religious and cultural overtones are educational and well depicted. The scenes in Shanghai as well as Australia are vistas that hold one in awe. It is a Drama worth viewing and now is on Blu Ray DVD and worth the effort for the clarity of sound and visual effect. The music is especially well adapted to the film and provides another reason for the extra effect of a good sound system.
    gradyharp

    Laotung and Nu shu: Two of the pleasures of a lovely story

    SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN is the cinematic adaptation of Lisa See's popular novel by writers Angela Workman, Ron Bass and Michael K. Ray and director Wayne Wang. The film unveils parallel stories between 19th century China and present day Shanghai - the tales of two women joined by laotong - a binding vow and contract to be eternal friends and share each others lives - communicating with a secret women's language called nu shu, carefully inked characters placed on the folds between the spines of a silken fan. By using the same actresses to play the parts of the girls two centuries apart adds a mysterious beauty to the films alluring flavor.

    In 1826 Lily and Snow Flower become laotung and though they are from opposite ends of the social stratum they become devoted friends, undergoing the ritual of having their feet broken and bound to remain very small as adults - apparently a desired attribute for physical attraction as a potential bride. The poor girl is chosen for marriage by a wealthy family and the rich girl is promised to a butcher, an extreme reversal of roles in society and it is the manner in which each adapts and aids the other that demonstrates the depth of the bond of laotong. Concurrently in the film we meet Nina and Sophie in contemporary Shanghai: Nina has gained education and stature and is due to move to New York as part of an important business. Sophie is in an accident and only slowly do we realize that Sophie had the promise of moving to Australia to marry an Aussie singer (Hugh Jackman), more because she is pregnant than for love. Because of the laotung between Nina and Sophie the two make sacrifices that overcome all else to prove their loyalty. There are many parallels in the two stories that show a bond between the two sets of girls and to capture this bond securely the two girls form centuries apart are played by the same actresses: Lily/Nina become the roles of Bing Bing Li and Snow Flower/Sophie are portrayed by Gianna Jun. The supporting cast is carefully chosen and uniformly fine.

    The sets and costumes and music enhance this film significantly. It is not a great epic of a movie, but it has a tender and touching story that is very well told by everyone involved.

    Grady Harp
    himelda

    Great movie about the laotong: a life- long relationship between women friends.

    One of the key discoveries in my life is that for me and for many of my women friends, our friendship is often the most wonderful gift of life. This movie celebrates friendship among women. It relates two stories of women in China whose friendship is signed as a contract, a laotong. Laotong, the movie explains, is a life-long relationship between women, often considered more important than marriage. The movie presents two young friends in Shanghai in the 21st century who celebrate a laotong. Their friendship is portrayed with the closeness, empathy and support that is well known about friendship among women. And it also presents the difficulties and distances that are very real and perhaps unavoidable in close relationships. In a similar way, the movie presents two 19th century women who had had a laotong in very different circumstances and for whom the friendship is also both a marvelous gift and a difficult relationship. Movies are often about relations between a man and a women but seldom about women friends. That is why this movie seems to be controversial. It is not always accepted that for women their women friends are their most rewarding relationships despite the complicated faces of any human partnership. Go see the movie. It shows a side of women's life that is amazingly real but poorly understood.
    9davidtraversa-1

    Bounded feet and bounded love.

    I finished reading all the previous reviews to have a clear idea about what other people saw in this movie, and I must say that all that emphasis about the film being too different from the book doesn't show a great understanding of the cinematic technique. A movie is not a book. The visual, with long shots and close ups, the dialogue and the music, even the noises, take over all the written pages to express a single gesture, the full description of a landscape, or the design of a dress. A single close up can give us the essence of a full chapter.

    This movie is sheer poetry.

    Forget about the original book that helped to create this jewel of a movie, just watch this film, allow your senses to be absorbed by the two parallel stories --the contemporary and the historical-- and just absorb all that beauty offered to you in the story-line, the exquisite photography, the delicacy of sentiments expressed by these women (it is a terrible film for men's egos, because we come a very poor second compared with those women, overpowered by men's brutality and yet transcending the horrible handicaps imposed on them, like the tiding of their feet from early age, to convert them into defenseless crippled creatures, totally depending on men, and their virtual slaves for life).

    The image of those bounded stomps, deformed to the point of becoming unrecognizable as human feet symbolizes too the humiliation some ultraconservative elements of society try to impose over minorities as if to say: "There, you'll go thru life bounded and suffering, freedom to be yourself will be denied to you because I want it so".

    The total love among these "Sisters for life" was infinitely superior to the love these women could have had for their husbands. We see that in both cases --the historic and the contemporary-- and in both cases it lasted, strong, to the last consequences.

    Contrary to other viewers, I didn't have the slightest problem in following the development of the two parallel stories, since it was done in a very natural, simple and honest way; both stories superbly intertwined to perfection till the final resolution.

    ¿A masterpiece? yes, I think so.
    8perkypops

    Staggeringly low rating for such a good film

    A film about laotong, the bonding of two women for eternity as kindred sisters, is unusual to say the least and one that is beautifully retold in the manner of so many oriental stories must be a rarity. The reason it works so well is because it is shot at two layers, one in the present day, and the other at a time when women needed each other for support. In fact the retelling of the latter is the result of a book written by Sophia of the life of Snow Flower in the title. In each layer Sophia/Snow Flower is bonded to Nina/Lily. The acting by Gianna Jun (Sophia/Snow Flower) and Bingbing Li as Nina/Lily is extraordinary with sterling support from an excellent cast. The cinematography and soundtrack are also first rate.

    In essence the story explores love in many guises via the relationship of the two present day characters and their mirrors of old, but it is only at the conclusion of the film that we are allowed to be inside the minds of the kindred sisters and their relationship. This is not a film that pivots upon romantic love since it delves very deep into the agendas the women have and for that reason alone it may not be a commercial success. That shouldn't detract from its beauty as a work of art but clearly it has had an effect on the film's popularity on IMDb. And that is a shame because it is well worth lasting all of its one hundred and four minutes including the beautiful wash drawings displayed with the final credits.

    I don't know how this film manages less than six on the ratings for I feel a little mean in only giving it eight because of the material it explores. It is worthy of a visit to cinema, or even ownership of a DVD. Oriental cinema has made another worthy addition to its growing list of excellent stories turned into film.

    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Rupert Murdoch personally asked Fox Searchlight to release this film in North America.
    • Goofs
      The last paragraphs of the unsent letter that Nina found in Sophias apartment, which can be seen when she closes the notebook, don't match Nina's voice-over.
    • Quotes

      Nina: [in Chinese] The world is always changing. Every day it's changing. Everything in life is changing. We have to look inside ourselves to find what stays the same, such as loyalty, our shared history and love for each other. In them, the truth of the past lives on.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Conan: A Tree with Dutch Elm Disease Grows in Brooklyn (2011)

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    FAQ20

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 24, 2011 (China)
    • Countries of origin
      • China
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official site
    • Languages
      • English
      • Mandarin
    • Also known as
      • Tuyết Hoa Bí Phiến
    • Filming locations
      • Hengdian World Studios, Heng Dian, China
    • Production company
      • IDG China Media
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $6,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,348,205
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $134,005
      • Jul 17, 2011
    • Gross worldwide
      • $11,348,205
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 44m(104 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
      • Datasat
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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