Who is the narrator?


I liked the movie, but I found Gong Li's second role as a narrator somewhat confusing. Where did she come from and how does she know Zhou Yu's lover Chen Qing? Maybe someone who speaks Mandarin can explain that best. Any comments?

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Unfortunately I cannot answer you question, because I too was confused by the film. I love Gong Li and was excited at the prospect of seeing her act again after several years away from acting. I was really into the early part of the movie, the way it bounced back and forth between timeframes, the gorgous cinematography, the wistful music, the lovelorn poetry of Chen Ching, the romanticism of two lovers seperated by distance, the anticipation of some tragic event that would keep Zhou Yu from finding true love with either man, and of course the ethereal beauty of Gong Li, all these things kept me glued to the film. Zhou Yu seemed to be a bit of a psycho when she was playing with Dr. Zang's emotions and that was bothering me, but I reassured myself that it would all pay off in the end. Without giving away too much of the plot, the film ended up confusing me and leaving me wondering what it all meant. I understand the themes of romantic love vs practical love, of how the idea of love, represented by the poetry of Chen Ching and specifically by the illusion of the lake, can sometimes be more satisfying than working at an actual relationship. I understand all that, but when the lights came up I still had that empty feeling of, "Well?" I think the best recommendation I can give for "Zhou Yu's Train" is for those who, like me, have a thing for Gong Li. Go see it, marvel at the beauty and talent of China's best actress, and don't worry about the plot.

"Get off of the bed!"

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Gong Li plays two roles, one as zhou you and one as xiu.(remember the last 10 minutes of the movie, chen qing call her xiu)
zhou you die on bus accident, he wrote a poem for her 'the zhou you's train'
the 'xan yu' lake is actually exist ( zhou you didn't see it because covered up with the fog, but it shows at the end of the movie)
"if it's in your heart, then it is real"

and of course Gong Li make the movie more enjoyable to watch...
(she's even prettier than she was 10 years ago...)

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This is my take on it -- the whole movie is the narrator's imagination. From reading the poems, and basically, as sukiyaki quoted also, "If it's in your heart, then it is real." Everything about Zhou Yu could or could not be real, and the narrator looks like Zhou Yu because it's the way the narrator imagines the affair, putting herself in Zhou Yu's place kind of because that's her vision of it (and doesn't know anymore about Zhou Yu besides what's in her imagination really, because all she has are the poems). I don't know exactly if this is the way the movie is meant to be taken, but it's how I saw it.

The hard part is separating what's real from what's in your heart/imagined, but then again, you don't really have to.

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...she's even prettier than she was 10 years ago...
You sure are right there <sigh>

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The following from http://www.cinema.com/films/8768/zhou_yu_de_huo_che/synopsis.phtml :

In the mountains of Tibet, a young woman named Xiu (also played by Gong Li) arrives. She has fallen in love with Chen Ching through his poems, and has been pursuing him and watching Zhou Yu to understand the inspiration behind the poetry. Chen tells her that Zhou Yu is dead - killed in a bus accident on her way to Tibet. But Xiu isn't convinced - now, she is the one riding the trains in pursuit of her love, and she can see Zhou Yu riding with her.

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i thought the movie was confusing too...mac_alain explained pretty much everything that i got out off the movie...

i think the whole story is told through the eyes of xiu, which would explain why the narrator refers to zhou yu in the third person...and i guess she read the poetry book zhou yu's train and has fallen in love with the poet...like she hunts him down and realizes that zhou died on her way to meet him

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