Eat Drink Man Woman
Eat Drink Man Woman (Chinese: 飲食男女) is a 1994 comedy-drama film directed by Ang Lee, from a script co-written with James Schamus and Hui-Ling Wang. It stars Sihung Lung, Wang Yu-wen, Wu Chien-lien, and Yang Kuei-mei. as members of the Zhu family navigate the challenges of love, life, tradition and family. Part of Lee's "Father Knows Best" trilogy and similar to Lee's other works, this film deals with the transition from tradition to modernity. It is Lee's only film, to date, to be shot entirely in his native Taiwan.
Eat Drink Man Woman | |||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 飲食男女 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 饮食男女 | ||||||
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Directed by | Ang Lee | ||||||
Written by | Ang Lee James Schamus Hui-Ling Wang | ||||||
Produced by | Hsu Li-kong Hsu Kong | ||||||
Starring |
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Cinematography | Jong Lin | ||||||
Edited by | Ang Lee Tim Squyres | ||||||
Music by | Thierry Mader Schollhammer | ||||||
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Distributed by | Central Motion Pictures (Taiwan) The Samuel Goldwyn Company (United States) | ||||||
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Running time | 123 minutes | ||||||
Countries | Taiwan United States | ||||||
Language | Mandarin | ||||||
Box office | $24.2 million |
The film premiered in Taiwan on July 2, 1994, and it was both a critical and box office success. It won several accolades including an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also nominated for both a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award, as well as three Golden Horse Awards and six Independent Spirit Awards. It would inspire films like Tortilla Soup and Joyful Reunion and has an eponymous musical rendition. A BBC Culture poll of film critics ranked the film at number 54 of the 100 Greatest Non-English Language Films.
The title is a quote from the Book of Rites, one of the Confucian classics, referring to the basic human desires and accepting them as natural. The beginning of the quote reads as follows: “The things which men greatly desire are comprehended in food and drink and sexual pleasure.”