A scene from Foreigner, featuring Gauthier Roubichou and Han Dantong in the lead roles. Provided to China Daily

Director Fabien Gaillard chose to base his story in Wuhan. Zhang Wei / China Daily

Film director Fabien Gaillard explores cross-cultural relationships without the clichEs in his latest production

Enough cliched stories have been told about cross-cultural romance, especially between Asian women and Caucasian men, so when French director Fabien Gaillard decided to tell a Chinese-French love story, he wanted to make it different. In his new movie Foreigner, or Lao Wai in Mandarin, a seemingly "impossible couple" - Paul, a French IT engineer and musician, and Mei, a traditional Wuhan girl - fall in love and strive to stay together despite the obstacles of language, culture and a troublesome ex-girlfriend.

"The argument is not only about cultural difference, but also about the dispute between men and women," says Gaillard, 33.

"There are stories between foreigners and Chinese. I try to show them differently. I also try to make it universal."

The film, which is the first Mandarin-speaking movie made by a foreigner for a Chinese audience, was first shown at the Inaugural Vietnam International Film Festival in 2010 to positive reviews.

The Hollywood Reporter called it "an unassuming romantic drama that could well be the beginning of a larger trend in Asian cinema".

Film Business Asia described it as a "cross-cultural romance that avoids all the usual pitfalls and cliches".

It premiered in Beijing on Dec 4 and will run until Dec 22 in Broadway Cinematheque MOMA, Beijing's first art house cinema, as part of a young filmmakers series this month.

The movie stars Gauthier Roubichou, a French musician who speaks fluent Chinese, and Han Dantong, a native Chinese actress. Gaillard put much thought into casting as he wanted actors who could convey the right message.

"I don't want to tell a story about a foreigner who just comes for travel and doesn't know anything about China," he says.

"I want to tell a story about someone who knows about China. I want him to speak in Chinese and perform and sing in Chinese."

For the part of Mei, Gaillard auditioned more than 20 actresses before finally picking Han.

"My only idea before choosing the actress was that I wanted her to be very traditional Chinese. The rest was open," he says.

"The reason I put Mei and Paul together was also to avoid cliches. What interests me in the movie is that it's about an impossible couple, where Mei is very Chinese and doesn't speak any English, and you have Paul who is very French. Even though he can speak Chinese and has some knowledge about China, he is still a foreigner. Paul may be the kind of guy who always goes out with girls like Vicky (Paul's ex-girlfriend), who can speak English and have a foreign cultural background. But this is the first time he has met a girl like Mei, who is truly a traditional Chinese woman."

Gaillard aims to break several stereotypes with the film.

"In Shanghai, people have a certain prejudice against cross-culture couples," he says. "But they are just part of the picture. Some might date for the cliched reasons, but some for true love, like in the movie. And this is what the movie wants to show, to break the cliched image of women who date foreigners."

In the movie, Gaillard chose Wuhan, a city in Central China, as a contrast to metropolitan Shanghai, to demonstrate the diversity of China. Gaillard first experienced traditional Chinese culture in Wuhan, during a business trip and through a good friend who lives in the city.

"The culture there is very different," he says. "I realized for the first time that it's a huge country and there are lots of different cultures inside the country. People in Wuhan are very warm-hearted; Shanghai is more for business. People have no time for others. They only have time for business. I want to show the contrast of the two cities, also of the two cultures."

Gaillard came to China eight years ago with his wife Yan Mi, a Beijing native. The two met in France when they were students.

Before Foreigner, Gaillard had already made two documentaries. The first, Wo Ai Ni (I Love You), was about his first trip to China and his contact with the country. The second, Doctor Wang, is about the life of a blind masseur, who is also a friend of Gaillard.

After working at the French embassy in Beijing for about a year, Gaillard moved to Shanghai with Yan. There he met a very different kind of foreigner. Unlike Beijing, where many foreigners work for official organizations, in Shanghai it's common to see foreigners taking up more menial jobs like salesmen and waiters. The more diversified foreign population in Shanghai has been a major inspiration for Gaillard. Paul in the movie, for instance, is a combination of himself and two Shanghai friends - one who works as an IT engineer and another who plays in a local band.

While the movie is based on a Chinese-French couple, Gaillard says its message is broader than cross-cultural relationships.

"It's never easy for a couple to get along," he says. "For a couple from different cultures, it's even more difficult. But even if there is difficulty, it's possible to get along together. Love is like a garden, we both have to take time to care for it so that it can grow more lushly."

Gaillard is now preparing for his next movie, which will also be a cross-cultural love story, this time about a Chinese man and a French woman. Gaillard wants the movie to get even closer to reality.

"I don't want it to be too romantic," he says. "I don't want to repeat. You can be romantic in life, but sometimes it's far from reality. My concern is to be close to reality in my movie."

The movie will be shot in both China and France and should be finished within 2013.

sunyuanqing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/28/2012 page28)