Bad Romance (film)

Plot

The story follows seven young men and women and their love lives: heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual, across the city of Beijing. A single mother meets a young student; a city boy meets a guy of his dream; a girl falls into a love game between a male and a female classmate from her French class.

Production

Bad Romance was filmed on location in Beijing, and was written, filmed and edited by debut Chinese filmmaker François Chang, with a largely unknown cast, an original music score combined with the popularly known music of singer/songwriter Lady Gaga, and a limited budget.

French language and culture feature prominently, with homage paid to Eric Rohmer's Six Contes Moraux, the music of Edith Piaf and the use of the Beijing Alliance Française as a location, setting the stage for a mixture of Asian and European culture and mores. The French singers are contrasted with Chinese opera where there is substantial variation in the timbre, tone and texture, but with similar messages. Photography and music are used to highlight the plot. The early-scene sun umbrella is intended to remind the viewer of Georges Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," while the minimalist string-rich score provides an accompaniment to the principal characters' contrasting lives.

Main cast