the road home

My favorite love story on screen.

It's Zhang Yimou's graceful The Road Home (2000), starring the radiant 19 year-old Zhang Ziyi, in her first movie fresh out of film school.

Returning to his childhood North China village upon the death of his father who was the beloved village teacher, a business man finds his mother distraught, keeping a sad vigil outside the decrepit village schoolhouse. She is adamant that her husband's funeral will follow age-old local customs - instead of being driven, local men must carry the coffin through winter snows from the hospital back to the village, so that her husband will always know the road home.

As his mother weaves the funeral cloth on the village loom, the son reflects on what he's heard of his parents' rare non-arranged courtship.

And that's all I'll say.
You must see it.
It's in Mandarin and French, with English and French subtitles.

Here is the first 8 minutes of this elegant film...