Lan Yu [蓝宇 藍宇] (2001)

An unusual film by director Stanley Kwan about a gay relationship in Beijing (unusual because such films are rarely ever made in mainland China).

Cash-strapped college student Lan Yu [Liu Ye] is set up with wealthy businessman Chen Handong [Hu Jun]. Four months later, they meet again at new year.

Gradually a relationship develops and Lan Yu even meets Chen’s family (as a friend of course). But Chen does not confine himself to just one man leading to a split.

Then (its  June 1989) a government contact tips Chen off that Tienanmen Square is to be cleared that night and that he has seen Lan Yu amongst the protesters. The events of that night are rather a blur in the film but lead to the two lovers being reunited.

But the flirtatious Chen is also courting the attractive Ms. Lin [Su Jin] and eventually marries her to fulfill societal expectations. Despite the fact that they love each other, Lan and Chen split up. Of course, the marriage does not work out and, some time later, Lan and Chen meet again. But there is no happy ending in this movie.

Liu and (especially) Hu are excellent in portraying the complex relationship between the two lovers. However,  the tragic ending is perhaps unnecessarily bleak suggesting that a gay relationship is inevitably doomed. It is striking how few similarly themed films have been made in the subsequent two decades.

The reference to June 1989 is rather unnecessary in this film (although it is taken from the novel on which the film is based). Its both (necessarily) self-censored (if you are not familiar with China you may not realise what is happening) and not well integrated into the story (we never previously or subsequently hear about Lan Yu’s interest in politics).

Based on an internet novel 北京故事 [Beijing Story] by an anonymous author. It scores an exceptional 8.3 from over 200,000 ratings on Douban. There seem to be a number of different versions ranging from 85 (the HK cinema version which I saw) to 97 minutes (the DVD release).