I saw this movie some 2 years ago and forgot to rate it. By pure chance I tumbled upon this page again and read the 2 comments.

While I can understand one of them, I couldn't disagree more with the other. And I just can't understand this cold & heartless comment. You could tell that about any & every movie, that it's dumb. Madame Bovary, Star Wars, are just dumb. That is, if you are not open to discovering something, when you really are not ready to try to understand a story and how it is brought on film.

There are, in this movie, so many tender and, for Hong Kong and China movies, new approaches. That is, if you want to see them.

Loss of memory, of speech, can happen after a traumatizing event. That is, if you want to try to understand, and are prepared to do some research before commenting.

The last scene of this touching movie is impressive. See it for yourself, or have another look.

None of the principal actors is known (until today) to have participated in another move. Is it because they were bad actors? I don't think so. They made a statement with this beautiful movie. They needn't do more.

Open you mind and enjoy!

I enjoyed this movie. It is slow moving with depth of characters, and not so confusing from beginning to end once one gets to the end. Sad, yes, but understanding of the culture in Asia and when Europeans go there. But, I come from the perspective of a European who has lived for half a year in China and visits from now and then. Some of the other reviews have some remarkably uninformed comments. Like, one saying it is implausible that a French guy speaks English. Sorry, that would be perfectly normal in China, as it would be rare for Chinese to speak French, but less rare to speak English. Overall, not a large budget movie but one that gets into some meaningful depths of understanding and showing different aspects of life in a Mandarin speaking region via the mechanisms of a mystery.

Really, this movie is just dumb! Here's what happens - this European dude goes to China to further his Mandrin language studies. A native male Chinese student becomes emotionally involved with the European dude. The Chinese guy comes to an unfortunate end because it's discovered he's having an affair with the European guy. European guy goes bonkers and won't talk to anyone and is found 'nekkid' passed out on some river bank. He's taken to a mental hospital where yet another Chinese guy becomes attracted to him and puts his job on the line because he's so taken with European guy.

We eventually find out why European guy goes bonkers, and the ending of the story is just stupid. The whole movie is stupid and not one character comes across as believable. And the only thought I had is why these guys thought the European guy was a catch - he was just bad news!

The aesthetic of this film is quite lovely, in the Chinese rural areas, such as the Doctor's wooden and white room, and the nature.

However, from the beginning, the storyline is strange and difficult to follow. He appears seemingly from out of nowhere, and after watching the film I still do not know why. The ending is equally miserable, just miserable. A guy leaves his girlfriend for the main character - Luke - and she is very bitter about this, despite her being a relatively devout Christian on the surface. She massively overreacts, and as does he as a result. Then the main character essentially murders his boyfriend, and ends up in a psychiatric institution - maybe as a result of this? It really couldn't be more screwed up - everything goes wrong and it was just disappointing to see.

I propose that the storyline could have headed to Paris, maybe Luke having to escape the psychiatric ward. Maybe the bitter ex girlfriend could be hit by a bus after releasing the sex tape, whilst running after her ex boyfriend crying at the same time as him. Or perhaps she could attempt to take her own life after running away from him in tears after catching them together, but then she could survive, and her ex boyfriend could be there to support her and feeling terrible for what's happened until she wakes up. Or something like that. I don't mind bad issues happening, but I would have appreciated a more optimistic ending.