2002

Director: Zhang Yuan

Camera: Zhang Jian

Production: Asian Film Union, Dong Ping

Cast: Xu Jing Lei, Tong Da Wei

Scenario: Wang Suo, Zhang Yuan, Xia Wei

Editor: Wu Yixiang

Music: Zhang Yadong

Running time: 98’

A vivid, fiercely ironic and intense portrait of a young, well-to-do Beijing couple in the new China. Trying to be in love, they nevertheless suffocate and tear each other apart, but cannot break up.

With films like Beijing Bastards, Sons and East Palace, West Palace, Zhang Yuan, became the frontman of the '6th generation.' The Chinese director has made some of the most incisive portraits of a modern Chinese society in transition. In I Love You, just as in Sons, his subjects are ordinary people, fascinatingly observed as they cannot help but tear each other apart. Once an 'underground' director, Zhang is now making officially approved films, but his vision is as unique and cynical as it ever was. Ju and Yi are yuppies, typical of the new commercially spirited Beijing. When they first meet, Ju is about to marry Yi's friend. One night, the three characters all enjoy themselves at a swimming pool. But Yi's fiancée dies after diving into a waterless pool. After the freak accident, the reunited Yi and Ju fall in love and get married. But their married life is in constant crisis. Yi wants to be free and Ju always wants Yi to prove his love. Their daily existence becomes a series of bitter recriminations and is filled with constant bickering. I Love You objectively explores the tragedy that can evolve from everyday married relations. The two characters are bound together, but at the same time they suffocate each other. With his vivid observation, Zhang paints a picture of young city dwellers that could be international.