Chen Kexin’s ＂Sauce Garden Lane＂ released the new sea newspaper and the first exposure of stills, introduced the role setting and creative ideas.

Sohu Entertainment News official website of the 77th Cannes Film Festival updated the project manual of the non-competition screening unit film "Sauce Garden Lane", including new posters, stills, scene art, story synopsis, introduction of some actors, roles and creative ideas. The film will have its world premiere in Cannes and is expected to be officially released this year.

Synopsis:

The story is adapted from one of the most famous unsolved cases in China (the murder of a husband in a sauce garden). In a bustling alley in Shanghai in the 1940s, a woman, Zhan Zhoushi, was accused of brutally dismembering her husband, and it seemed impossible for her to finish the murder alone. This case made her the focus of public attention, judged by public opinion, and forced her fate to be intertwined with that of her own country.

Role introduction:

Zhang Ziyi plays Zhan Zhoushi.

In that era when lower-class women had no names, Zhan Zhou’s known title came from the combination of her former master’s and her husband’s surnames. When her husband’s dismembered remains were found, she initially admitted that she had killed him, and then she went back on her word. She is facing a high-profile trial and may be executed. At this time, she suddenly broke out with an unexpected desire to survive.

Eric Wang plays the big guy.

The big guy is Zhan Zhou’s husband, so he got the nickname because of his strong figure. He used to be an appraiser in a pawnshop, but after he was involved in the war in Shanghai, he was frustrated and eventually fell into a gambling den for comfort.

Jackson Yee plays Song Xiazi.

The blind man in Song Dynasty is a blind fortune-teller. He lives downstairs in Zhan Zhou’s house, and his real identity and age are a mystery. As the embodiment of fate, the blind man in Song Dynasty gave obscure fortune-telling results to the characters in this film, some people regarded it as a standard, while others dismissed it.

Zhao Liying plays Xi Lin.

Xi Lin is a writer, playwright and socialite, especially in that era when she was unfriendly to divorced women. After Xi Lin’s drama was suddenly withdrawn, she met a possible substitute: a work focusing on the case of Zhan Zhoushi, known as the "husband killer". Xi Lin quickly seized the opportunity of this highly publicized case and tried to save her career.

Lei Jiayin plays Xue Zhiwu.

Xue Zhiwu is the deputy director of the police station who works for the puppet regime in Japan. He firmly believes that his actions are just and has never thought about the possibility of betrayal. After hearing Zhan Zhoushi’s confession, Xue Zhiwu tried to close the case quickly, only to find that he greatly underestimated her resilience.

Yang Mi plays Wang Xu-Mei.

Wang Xu-Mei, a cellmate of Zhan Zhou’s family, is honored as the "big sister" of the prison. She used to be a popular dancer in Shanghai. After being found harboring refugees, her life changed greatly, but she firmly believed that she would eventually be released.

Dapeng plays Ho Hui-Xian

Ho Hui-Xian was one of Zhan Zhou’s neighbors at the time of the murder. He was a lonely and shy blacksmith who had no obvious connection with the case. At first, the police investigation didn’t notice him, but his real role in this incident will eventually surface.

Li Xian plays Zhang Bao-Fu.

Zhang Bao-Fu is a friend of "Bear". He introduced the latter to gambling and tried to take advantage of his friend’s debt and Zhan Zhou’s predicament to make profits. Zhang was indifferent to the consequences of his actions until he suddenly became a suspect in the murder case.

Fan Wei plays Ye Bo-Xiu.

Ye Bo-Xiu is a barrister in the largest law firm in Shanghai-the owner of the firm is his son-in-law. He approached Zhan Zhoushi and promised to have the case retried, so that Zhan Zhoushi wondered what the other party could get from it.

This sand plays Chen Kai-Zhou.

Chen Kai-Zhou is a law graduate who has just returned from the United States. He partnered with Ye Bo-Xiu in the case of Zhan Zhoushi. Full of determination to change the status quo of women in China, Chen’s idealism is tested by complicated reality.

Zifeng Zhang plays Ye Nian-Zhi.

Ye Nian-Zhi, the daughter of Ye Bo-Xiu, agreed to marry her father’s boss, the owner of Shanghai’s top law firm, regardless of the huge age difference. But behind the wealth and comfort brought by this marriage, there is a dangerous undercurrent.

Creative ideas (excerpts):

Director Chen Kexin

I started developing this project eight years ago. What attracted me at first was an unsolved murder case. Later, I found myself more interested in how the fate of Zhan Zhoushi was intertwined with that of her motherland-from Shanghai during the Japanese occupation to China during the Kuomintang period to the birth of People’s Republic of China (PRC). This narrative not only includes her fate, but also involves many characters in that turbulent era. Every character is not black and white, big and big. When the world around you is so complicated, your life can’t be that simple.

Knowing this, I turned the story center into a turning point in a marriage. Nowadays, what we understand is that when a marriage is broken, it is good to divorce. But in this story-perhaps in her time-Zhang Ziyi’s character will either be killed or her husband will be killed and dismembered to avoid seeing each other in the afterlife. She is feudal in thought, but she has extraordinary toughness, which brings more complicated and contradictory levels to her role, and it also makes me have more questions in my mind: What kind of person is she?

It may be resilience-a theme that has appeared many times in my movies, which attracted me to start this journey, and this time it is reflected behind the image of a "disaster" female.

Photographer Bao Xuanming

China’s Japanese occupation in the 1940s may not be familiar to western audiences, but it is a common background for Japanese films. We want to create a unique interpretation of this era with modern feelings.

Chen Kexin’s other films usually shoot a lot of content, but this film is different and is committed to limiting the number of actors. Carefully plan how to capture the actors’ performances, and scene scheduling is committed to maximizing the value of each angle. It usually takes 2 or 3 hours to build a scene, and then one seat and one pass are taken when shooting.

Costume makeup design Dora Ng

In our early conversation, director Chen Kexin obviously wanted to show every actor in a completely new way. He envisioned roles that Zhang Ziyi and Lei Jiayin had never played before. Therefore, the theme that we continue to pursue is "novelty" and "surprise".

In particular, there is a skirt-the cheongsam worn in Zhang Ziyi’s poster, which she got when she took the wedding photo and was also the dress she wore when she killed her husband. This represents two poles of her vitality: beauty and happiness, and extreme cruelty. The director’s words inspired me: "Think of this skirt as Zhan Zhoushi himself." So I thought of designing this cheongsam as tattered and ragged, tearing it and sewing it back by hand to make it look unique. The effect of this is very impactful: a broken and bloody cheongsam brings a feeling of corruption.

Art director Sun Li

The film was set in the 1940s, when there were few places left in the real world. Director Chen Kexin and I visited Tianjin and Shanghai. Then we must meticulously design government agencies, law firms, courts, factories, prisons, docks and police stations. We strive to be unconventional, the court design is minimalist, the prison design has a cinematic form and scale, and the factory design reflects the identity and class of the characters. Our purpose is not to rebuild old Shanghai, but to promote the performance of actors and immerse the audience.

In the script, Detective Xue’s continuous visit and investigation to the murder scene in the sauce garden gave me great inspiration. From this point of view, we go deep into the mysterious streets and lanes of Shanghai, and the literary scenes with stylized and contemporary feelings are set in a world affected by war and the political situation is changeable. After building such a vivid world outlook, we have integrated the fate of ordinary people into the background of major historical events.

The film will premiere in Cannes and be officially released this year. Previously, the full lineup of official propaganda (in order of roles) was: Zhang Ziyi, Eric Wang, Jackson Yee, Mei Ting, Zhao Liying, Lei Jiayin, Runxuan Liu, Zhang Yu, Anna Kirke, Yang Mi, Kang Chunlei, Peng Yuchang, Yin Yun, Chen Guoqing, Zhang Jianya, Zhou Yemang, Dapeng, Xu Xiang, Li Xian, Sun Qiang, Fan Wei, and this.