C'est la vie, mon chéri (lit. 'That's life, my love') (Chinese: 新不了情) is a 1993 Hong Kong melodrama film directed by Derek Yee. The film stars Anita Yuen as Min who is part of a Cantonese street opera troupe who meets Kit, a struggling jazz musician. They do slowly just start to form a relationship with Kit gaining acceptance from Min's family, when Min is suddenly diagnosed with bone cancer, an ailment she had previously suffered with as a child.
David Bordwell said that near the beginning of the 1990s, filmmakers in Hong Kong began a cycle of "relationship movies" in Hong Kong, which featured films with less pricy actors and actresses, sentimental scripts, and having lyrical film scores that could be marketed to the music market. Derek Elley wrote in 1994 that C'est la vie, mon chéri was "the year's biggest critical success" where it as among the top five highest grossing films of 1993. Elley continued that at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards, it won "nearly all the major awards", which included Yee winning and Best Film and Best Screenplay and Anita Yuen winning Best Actress.
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Plot
Min, who is part of a Cantonese street opera troupe and a part-time cover artist, meets Kit, a struggling jazz musician who has just broken up with his celebrity singer girlfriend. Through her bubbly personality, she affects Kit for the better. However, just as their relationship begins to stabilize and win acceptance from Min's family, which includes a strict mother and a doting, saxophone-playing uncle, Min is re-diagnosed with bone cancer, which she had once suffered as a child.
Cast and roles
Lau Ching-wan as Kit
Anita Yuen as Min
Carina Lau as Tracey
Paul Chun as Uncle / Cheung Po-tsai
Fung Bo Bo as Min's mother
Carrie Ng as Yau Ling
Sylvia Chang as Min's doctor (cameo)
Jacob Cheung as Fortune teller (cameo)
David Wu
Peter Chan as Cocktail party attendee (cameo)
Teddy Chan as Man sitting at bar
Tats Lau as Tats
Herman Yau as Kit's musician friend
Joe Junior as Cover singer
Joe Cheung as Bartender
Chin Tsi-ang as Min's granny
Background and production
In 1960s Hong Kong films, there was a trend of films about a songstress who becomes is a self-sacrificing and becomes a tragic figure. This was seen in early films like The Wild, Wild Rose (1960), Love Without End (1961), with the latter big a big hit and earning Linda Lin her fourth and final Best Actress Awards at the Asian Film Festival in Seoul, South Korea in 1962. The latter film influenced director Derek Yee. The Chinese-language title of C'est la vie mon cheri is 不了情 which literally translates as "New Love Without End" and a similar narrative to the 1962 film.
In his book Planet Hong Kong, David Bordwell said that near the beginning of the 1990s, filmmakers in Hong Kong began a cycle of "relationship movies" which featured less pricy stars, sentimental scripts and were devoid of special effects, and also contained lyrical film scores that could be marketed to the music market. He continued that these films ranged from what he described as "low-key yuppie romances" such as Heart to Hearts (1988) to "wistful melodramas" such as Derek Yee's C'est la vie, mon chéri.
Release and reception
C'est la vie, mon chéri was released on November 11, 1993 in Hong Kong. Derek Elley wrote that C'est la vie, mon chéri was "the year's biggest critical success" in Hong Kong and was a "strong performer at the box-office." Itt earned 30.85 million Hong Kong dollars in 1993 and was among the top five highest grossing films in the country's year-end box office.
Elley wrote that the film "skirts very close to a disease-of-the-week weepie" while finding that it was a "remarkable for its lack of cynicism and crowd-pleasing elements."
In the monthly Chinese magazine Popular Cinema had their annual Hundred Flowers Awards, which were voted for by the magazines readers. Derek Yee was voted "best Director" and Anita Yuen was voted Best Actress for their work in the film. In 2010, both contemporary and former research officers and programmers of the Hong Kong Film Archive as well as the Director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the dean of School of Film & Television at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts submitted a list of the 100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies. C'est la vie mon chéri was included on the top 100 list.
Awards and nominations
Elley said that at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards, C'est la vie, mon chéri nearly won all the "major prizes".
Soundtrack
One-Fang: 新不了情 "C'est la vie, mon chéri"
Fung Bo Bo: 念情 "Remembering Love"
Film score: 晨街 "Morning Street"
Film score: 憶兒時 "Childhood Memories"
Lee Fung: 搖紅燭 "Shaking the Red Candle"
One-Fang: 給我一個吻 "Give Me a Kiss"
One-Fang: 不了情 "Endless Love"
Film score: 愛芽初萌 "Shoots of a Budding Love"
Film score: In The Mood
Joe Junior, Louise Tang: 載歌載舞（詐肚痛） "Singing and Dancing (Feigning Abdominal Pain)" (Cantonese)
Lee Fung: 補鑊佬 "Remedial guy" (Cantonese)
Film score: 返家 "Back Home"
Fung Bo Bo: 黎明在望 "Dawn Is in Sight" (Cantonese)
Legacy
Lisa Odham wrote in her book Historical Dictionary of Hong Kong Cinema (2007) that while the Hong Kong melodrama genre declined in the 1970s as kung fu films superseded it locally, it was revived by critical and commercial success of C'est la vie, mon chéri. Elley wrote in 1994 that C'est la vie, mon chéri' made Anita Yuen a star actress, while Richard James of the South China Morning Post described the film as her "big break." On winning her Best Actress award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, Yuen felt it was not deserved saying "I am not ready to win; I haven’t gathered enough points. Even if other people feel I am ready for it, I personally don’t think so. In a few years, when I am more mature, I can probably give better performances." Havis said following the win, Yuen was "not very choose about her roles" with sights set on "to make as much money as possible while at the top."
The theme song of (新不了情; Xīn bùliǎo qíng) is sung by singer One-Fang. It grew to be one of her most popular song and was subsequently covered by many others.
In 2008, Derek Yee produced a television adaptation of C'est la vie, mon chéri, starring Chen Kun, Fiona Sit, Alex Fong, Candice Yu, and Benz Hui.