Many pundits were predicting that Lou Ye’s erotic drama “Spring Fever” could nab the Palme d’Or, if only as a political gesture against the Chinese censors who imposed a five-year filmmaking ban on the director — which he has defied with this film. Following last night’s press screening, however, those hopes have taken a bit of a knock, as it appears to be more an intriguing curiosity than a surefire arthouse success.
Screen International’s Howard Feinstein is beguiled by the film’s elaborate floral imagery and “astonishing” cinematography, but feels its narrative opacity and explicit sexual content might limit it to the gay festival circuit:
Close-ups of flowers not only open and close the film, they also pop up intermittently, mirroring shifts in both the story line and the state of mind of its gay protagonist. This integration of visuals and narrative, however, is the exception rather than the rule in this ambitious and – by mainland Chinese standards – daring project. The screenplay is so convoluted and contains so many loose ends that the intense style (fragmented editing, jerky, handheld camera) only highlights the movie’s occasional lapses into incoherence.
Variety’s review is along similar lines, though he’s less impressed by the lensing — citing “a lack of visual consistency” — and thinks the film actually represents a regression for the filmmaker:
The screenplay is much better constructed than the untidy “Summer Palace,” but the pic is still a long, long way from Lou’s inventive and involving “Suzhou River” and flawed but impressively ambitious period drama, “Purple Butterfly.” As Lou has seemingly catered more and more to Euro tastes (and Western sensibilities), his vision and imagination have become progressively more restricted.
Sounds to me like it’s out of the Palme d’Or discussion, then, unless a really passionate critical faction emerges — the jury doesn’t always side with critics, of course, but they tend to reward films with crossover potential. Still, there could well be a consolation prize of some sort for the filmmaker, acknowledging his courage in making the film at all, or perhaps a technical gong for the DP.