19세기 말에 나온 소설 『해상화열전』을 원작으로 한 작품. 청나라의 고위층들은 상해의 영국조계지에 자리한 어느 유곽을 매일 찾아간다. 이곳에서 그들은 여인들과 한자리에 앉아 술을 마시고 사랑을 나눈다. 한정된 공간을 배경으로 탐미적인 분위기를 자아내는데, 허우 샤오시엔의 작품 중 가장 이질적인 느낌을 주는 작품 중 한 편.
Freely adapted from Gabriel García Márquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the film follows the investigation of a local teacher's murder in a small and desperately poor rural village, the story of the crime gradually pieced together from the fragmented memories of witnesses forced to testify at an inquest. Sharing with her Fifth Generation colleagues Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang a remarkable eye for the barren landscapes of northern China and a fascination with small-town life — especially those enduring superstitions that Communism failed to erase — director Li Shaohong also introduces several formal innovations, particularly in storytelling structure, that remain unprecedented in Chinese cinema.
A married village worker teams up with an old girlfriend to try to dig a well for his water-starved village. The well collapses and they are trapped. Their enforced confinement leads to them exploring their feelings for each other and those around them.
