“Vive L’Amour” was Tsai’s second feature film and helped establish his trademark style, which consists of slow, meticulously paced filmmaking featuring gay characters and themes of social alienation. The film is also notable for starring Lee Kang-sheng, who appeared in all of Tsai’s films and is widely seen as the director’s muse. “Vive L’Amour” helped catapult Tsai to the apex of the international filmmaking community, and now fans of the director’s more recent work have the chance to see one of his foundational films on the big screen.
An official synopsis reads: “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,’ being released by Film Movement Classics in a stunning 2K restoration, 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.” Film Movement will release the 2K restoration of “Vive L’Amour” March 18 at Metrograph in New York City, followed by a rollout in other major markets. Watch the trailer, an IndieWire exclusive, below:
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