Vive L'Amour

The sophomore feature from Tsai Ming-liang (REBELS OF THE NEON GOD; GOODBYE, DRAGON INN) finds the acclaimed master of Taiwan's Second New Wave demonstrating a confident new cinematic voice. VIVE L'AMOUR follows three characters unknowingly sharing a supposedly empty Taipei apartment. The beautiful realtor May Lin (Yang Kuei-mei) brings her lover Ah-jung (Chen Chao-jung) to a vacant unit she has on the market, unaware that it is secretly being occupied by the suicidal funeral salesman Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng). The three cross paths in a series of precisely staged, tragicomic erotic encounters, but despite their physical proximity, they find themselves no closer to a personal connection.

Featuring an intoxicating mix of Antonioni-esque longing and surprising deadpan humor, VIVE L'AMOUR catapulted Tsai to the top of the international filmmaking world and earned him the prestigious Golden Lion at the 1994 Venice International Film Festival.



"A wryly comic drama... Tsai stages the trio’s erotic comings and goings with an incremental screwball precision, as if Jacques Tati had given free rein to his sexual fantasies." - Richard Brody, The New Yorker

"Striking and beautiful... one of the key modernist works of the Taiwanese New Wave." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

"Haunting... a virtual homage to the Antonioni films LA NOTTE and ECLIPSE." - Stephen Holden, The New York Times

Winner - Golden Lion - Venice Film Festival
Winner - FIPRESCI Prize - Venice Film Festival
Winner - Best Feature Film - Golden Horse Awards
Winner - Best Director - Golden Horse Awards