A Beautiful Life (2011-Chinese film)

"A real-estate agent Li Peiru (Shu Qi) gets drunk at a karaoke bar and throws up on a lonely cop Fang Zhendong (Liu Ye). Zhendong quickly feels a connection to the flirtatious Peiru despite the fact that she's having an affair with her married boss."


One of my favorite films in general, it is a romantic with undertones of realistic life that can leave us feeling depressed. I am big fan of Shu Qi despite what certain critics say she is a good actress to me and she's beautiful to boot. Liu Ye is also a good actor though I feel like he's being given the same kind of characters more than once. The two share some chemistry on screen and actually made me like the characters which is rare for me. I felt happy and satisfied after watching this film for the first time.

Shu Qi's character Li Peiru can be seen as representing the current society women and not just women in modern day China. She is materialistic that is quite common in China (According the director of the film) and she is quite selfish. She doesn't really take life seriously and leans on Fang Zhendong for support though she is having an affair with her boss.
Li Peiru slowly changes throughout the film, most likely do to Zhendong's doing. She does things that she wouldn't normally do after meeting him a few times. Though it isn't until the last half of the film does she fully change into a better person and now supports Zhendong.

Meanwhile Liu Ye's character Zhendong, is the definition of a better part of society. He is a cop in the beginning of the film and is respected by his fellow officers. He is also selfless, taking care of his younger brother and protecting citizens. I felt bad for him in the beginning, since he was helping the woman he sort of loved in her relationship with her married boss(which he didn't learn about after their meeting in a grocery store). Everyone can lean on him, but slowly that changes and the roles are reversed in a dramatic way.

4/5

A lot of people might argue with me but I will stand firm on the fact that I love this movie and that will never change.