Ye Lou’s majestic, dynamic “Summer Palace” (Yihe Yuan) is a gorgeous, melancholy epic tracing two decades in the lives of several friends that begins before the summer of the Tienanmen massacre. The fifth feature from the director of “Suzhou River” and “Purple Butterfly” boasts a brilliant central performance by Yu Hong as the country girl who comes to Beijing for college and discovers the complexities of her sexual life as the youth of the country hopes to blossom around her. Ye tips his hands about some of his intentions, with a glimpse of the final shot of Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” near the beginning, with the young Jean-Pierre Leaud running to the edge of the sea (where the story will freeze for all time). Instead of “Shoot the Piano Player,” we move inexorably toward “Shoot the Student Protestor.” Ye layers sound and music masterfully, including narration and quotations from other writers, including Havel and the character’s own journal about her increasingly aching wants, but Yu is the flaming center. At first, we observe her very agreeable features with a gently inflammatory smile, and Ye builds his story in fresh rhythms that alternate acceleration and elision. She’s been with a boyfriend back home, but dorm life leads to exploratory fucking. She’s troubled by her feelings. In a recurring image, she murmurs of illusions and closes her eyes as wind gathers and rushes her face with dandelion tufts. The story grows progressively more heated, naked, intimate, frenzied. About forty-five minutes in, Yu reveals her character in a moment where she sings and all bets are off. “Looking at my face in the mirror, I don’t see the face of a young girl. Instead, I see the face of a mature woman. Complex desires. Emotions ripened prematurely. Nonchalance and coldness.” “Summer Palace” is magisterial yet comfortable in its intimacies, a cosmopolitan juggernaut that staggers the heart. (Plus the best burp I’ve heard in an age.) The Chinese government has banned “Summer Palace” and barred Ye from working for the sexual content, but more importantly, for providing glimpses of Tienanmen Square and archive footage of protestors on their way there. The use of Toni Basil’s “Mickey” and Andy Williams’ version of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” match the near-matchless use of Paul Anka’s “You Are My Destiny” in Peter Gothar’s “Time Stands Still.” 132m. (Ray Pride)
