●Opening at Togeki Theater and other cinemas across Japan from Saturday, Dec 15　
Official Website: www.astaire.co.jp/shokubutsu　(Japanese)
　
Profile:　Dai Sijie
Dai was born in Fujian, China in 1954. With an overseas study scholarship from the Chinese government in hand, he enrolled in the French National Film School, La Femis (IDEHC, at the time) in 1984 for graduate study and has lived in France ever since. In 1989, his first full-length film "China, My Sorrow" was shown at Cannes Film Festival and won the Prix Jean Vigo. He made his writing debut in 2000 with the book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, which soon became a bestseller. In 2002, his film of the same title was nominated for the Golden Globe awards as the Best Foreign Language Film, and in 2006 his newest film "The Chinese Botanist's Daughters" was awarded Best Artistic Contribution by audiences at the Montreal World Film Festival.

(Warning: This interview contains potential spoilers.) 　
　

-- First of all, could you tell us more about your source of inspiration for this film?

The story is based on an actual event. A long time ago I read this one article on local news in a Chinese paper. Two young women--lovers--that worked together at a factory were sentenced to death for the murder of one woman's father. In the article the journalist speculated that the two women may have killed the father, who was opposed to their relationship, in the hopes that they could stay together. My heart went out to them when I read this. In order for this girl to be with the one she loved, she had to marry her lover's brother. It's insane and very twisted! I thought this complexity was a typically Chinese story. I bet Japanese women would not think of doing such a thing, and French women would certainly never (laughs). 　

-- You may be right (laughs).

But on the other hand, I was struck by the fact that their love is real, a deep emotion - and even though it was a bit twisted, what those young women did was, coming from their mindset, a fair thing. Also, I was a bit hesitant since I am not in the know about lesbian love, but I did think that I could create this work as an artistic piece and so I decided to stand up for the challenge of this theme. I wanted to give myself to producing a film of my own sense, one filled with beauty and emotion.

--What aspect of the story touched you the most?

Well, first of all, I felt that the deep love that brought these two young women together was extremely romantic. In my mind, these women weren't so much 'lesbian' - since they didn't really possess a recognition of knowledge of themselves as such - but rather they just were determined to love each other dearly. That unwavering surety of pure love just tears at the heart. Also, what really got to me was the fact that these were women denied their freedom. They were justified in their love and there should be no reason why they shouldn't be able to continue in it--so one has to wonder, why do they not have that right? Since I have experienced losing the right to my own expression, I know what it feels like to not be able to be who you are in your own country. I felt close to both of them, because to me it seemed like we were all outsiders.

translated by rayna