Start a free trial Thousands of TV series and movies to watch instantly. Already a member?
Suzhou River cover art

Suzhou River Details

2000 Certificate 15
  • 60
  • from 992 members

With SUZHOU RIVER, director Lou Ye has created an intense, jerky visual and narrative style that captivates viewers and pulls them into the mystery of the film's dreamy, alluring tale of love and mistaken identities. The narrator--the voice behind the camera (literally) who occasionally sticks his hand out in front of the lens .. Read more

Starring Zhou Xun, Jia Hongshen, Nai An
Director Lou Ye
Genres Drama, World Cinema

Sign up Suzhou River DVD

loading loading...

Suzhou River cover art

Suzhou River

With SUZHOU RIVER, director Lou Ye has created an intense, jerky visual and narrative style that captivates viewers and pulls them into the mystery of the film's dreamy, alluring tale of love and mistaken identities. The narrator--the voice behind the camera (literally) who occasionally sticks his hand out in front of the lens to spraypaint a stencil on the side of a building or pick up a drink from the bar--guides the viewer along the banks of the heavily polluted and industrialised Suzhou River, which winds precariously through Shanghai, setting the scene for the major action of the film's plot. Back in his apartment, he tells the sad story of Marda (Jia Hongshen), a bicycle messenger who falls madly in love with a young girl named Moudan (Zhou Xun). Marda becomes entangled with a messy crime gang that forces him to kidnap Moudan and demand ransom money from her rich father. Moudan escapes from him before he receives the money and jumps into the poisonous river, promising that one day she'll return as a mermaid. Marda serves a three-year jail sentence for his crime, wracked with grief about causing Moudan's supposed death. Upon his release, he walks into a nightclub and sees a woman performing an underwater mermaid act in a tank. She looks exactly like Moudan, but she is named MeiMei (also played by Zhou). Coincidentally, MeiMei is dating the cameraman-narrator, bringing the plot full circle. An enticingly surreal film that is successful primarily for its narrative twists, SUZHOU RIVER shares many thematic elements with Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO.

Starring Zhou Xun, Jia Hongshen, Nai An
Director Lou Ye
Studio FUSION MEDIA
Run time DVD: 1 hr 23 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama, World Cinema
Language DVD: Mandarin
Subtitles DVD: English
Released Production year: 2000

To Rent:
DVD: 08 Dec 2003

Like it What's this?

Write a review

Rating breakdown

992 Member ratings
  • 100
63
  • 90
71
  • 80
165
  • 70
186
  • 60
202
  • 50
99
  • 40
85
  • 30
50
  • 20
46
  • 10
25

Related user collection

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

    • Suzhou River

    • Suzhou River
      With SUZHOU RIVER, director Lou Ye has created an intense, jerky visual and narrative style that captivates viewers and pulls them into the mystery of the film's dreamy, alluring tale of love and mistaken identities. The narrator--the voice behind the camera (literally) who occasionally sticks his ...

Want to watch something right now?

Start your FREE trial now

LOVEFiLM - An Amazon company

Follow LOVEFiLM on

Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | EULA | Affiliates | Jobs | Inside LOVEFiLM Blog | About Us | Contact Us

International sites UK DK DE SE NO

LOVEFiLM, the LOVEFiLM logo and all other LOVEFiLM product or service names are trade marks of LOVEFiLM International Ltd. or its affiliates.

© 2012 LOVEFiLM UK Ltd. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.