Rent Spring in a Small Town (1948)
3.8 of 5 from 101 ratings
1h 34min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Regarded as the finest work from the first great era of Chinese filmmaking, Fei Mu's quiet, piercingly poignant study of adulterous desire and guilt-ridden despair is a remarkable rediscovery, often compared to David Lean's 'Brief Encounter'. After eight years of marriage to Liyan (Yu Shi) - once rich but now a shadow of his former self following a long, ruinous war - Yuwen (Wei Wei) does little except deliver his daily medication. A surprise visit from Liyan's friend Zhang (Wei Li) re-energises the household, but also stirs up dangerously suppressed longings and resentments. Director Fei Mu's deft use of locations, dissolves and camera movements makes for a fraught, febrile mood of hesitant passion, entrapment and ennui. - Actors:
- Chaoming Cui, Wei Li, Yu Shi, Wei Wei, Hongmei Zhang
- Directors:
- Mu Fei
- Producers:
- Xingzai Wu
- Writers:
- Tianji Li
- Aka:
- Xiao cheng zhi chun
- Studio:
- BFI Video
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Romance
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like: Raise the Red Lantern, Films & TV by topic, Films to Watch If You Like..., Spring On Screen: Films to Watch This Season, Top 10 Films By Year, Top 10 Films of 1948
- Countries:
- China
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Reviews (1) of Spring in a Small Town
China’s Greatest Love Story You’ve Never Seen - Spring in a Small Town review by griggs
Spring in a Small Town is a quiet stunner–delicate, melancholic, and profoundly affecting. Directed by Fei Mu in 1948, it follows a woman stuck in a crumbling marriage whose life is upended when her former lover–now her husband’s friend–comes to visit. It’s a love triangle but without the melodrama. Everything’s handled with aching restraint.
Unlike most films from that era in China, it avoids politics entirely, focusing on personal emotion. That choice nearly doomed it, as Mao’s regime labelled it “bourgeois” and buried it for decades. It’s rediscovery is a gift.
The cinematography is lyrical, full of quite ruins and long silences, with an almost European art film feel–think early French realism or pre-Ozu Japan. The cast, especially Wei Wei, are superb, giving performances full of longing and nuance.
It’s slow, subtle, and haunting. This little masterpiece is not for the impatient but for those who like their heartbreak poetic.
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