Teeth of Love

“Teeth of Love” is a grand drama about loveand self-sacrifice in the shadow of politicallyconservative China, on a search for its newidentity after the Mao regime. The story beginsat a dentist’s office in 1987 and then goes backto 1977, one year after the Cultural Revolution,when the protagonist, Qian Yehong, is a dominanttomboy and leader of the pack at a Beijing highschool. Qian targets fellow classmate Lin Jieby spearheading a collective campaign againsther as a slut – but Qian meets resistance whenher classmate, He Xuesong, not falling forthe peer pressure, challenges her queen beestatus. Despite the fight, he is secretly in lovewith Qian. The battle between them becomes aviolent game of pride ending with a permanentback injury for Qian and the accidental death ofHe. This dramatic teenage experience marks Qian and turns pain into her key to love – with arefined masochism as her only way to deal withdeep emotions. Using a conventional narrativestructure, Yuxin’s film is original in the nuancedcharacters, the minimalistic mise-en-scène andthe symbolical play between the characters andChina at the time.

Face2Face:
Tuesday 20 November
GRAND 19.30
WITH: Zhuang Yuxin (director)
MODERATOR: Tove Leffler (journalist and editor)