"The Confessions of Qiao Yan" starring Zhao Liying and Tan Zhilei has reached a revenue of 100 million NDT after 5 days of release. This is considered a good achievement for an art film.
The work is expected to be entered into the competition category of the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival.
The film is adapted from the novel “Dai Qiao, Tieu Qiao”. The film revolves around the main character, a successful actress, Qiao Yan (played by Trieu Le Dinh), who, despite having to endure a lot of pressure and contempt, suddenly finds her life threatened by an anonymous blackmail letter and the appearance of her long-lost sister (played by Tan Chi Loi).
In an interview with 1905 Movie Network, director Zhao Deyin said that in order to cooperate with Zhao Liying, he watched her previous works, including the historical drama "The Legend of Minglan". The director assessed Zhao Liying as a talented, hard-working and determined actress.
However, Kieu Ngyen is not a role similar to Trieu Le Dinh herself, she needs to challenge her interpretation of the character.
So Zhao Liying went through two months of training in advance, learned the local dialect, ate local food, and felt the local flavor. Only then did she have the “smell” of Qiao Yan.
The difficulty in interpreting Qiao Yan was the difficulty in mastering the language, requiring her to switch freely between her native dialect and Mandarin, the difficulty in grasping the character's state, requiring her to endure her unwillingness to admit defeat and calmly counterattack the evil forces around her. But Zhao Liying did it. "Qiao Yan stood there and made us believe in the story," said the director.
In addition, many scenes in the film are Trieu Le Dinh's ideas and creativity, the improvisation has created a different color compared to the original script, which is recognized by the director.
Director Trieu Duc Dan said that Kieu Nghien's opening scene was the highlight, creating the "tone" for the entire work. He planned to follow the script, prepare everything and carefully design the scene before filming.
But Zhao Liying suggested changing her outfit to look like she was wearing a shawl, which changed the mood of the performance. It also prompted the director to change the lens to film on the spot. “When the lights dimmed, I felt like this was right,” the director said.
In this scene, Zhao Liying sheds tears, her outfit is shaped like a cloak, creating a very mysterious and suspenseful atmosphere. The camera slowly moves forward, leading the audience into her heart, signaling that the film will reveal her long-hidden thoughts.
The opening scene was filmed just days after filming began. The director praised Zhao Liying: "This was the actress's improvisation. Her state was different from the script. I was immediately shocked when filming." Zhao Liying helped the director capture the ideal moment and then everything went exactly as planned.
In another scene, when her sister and Qiao Yan meet again after many years. Her sister asks her why she is so thin. Qiao Yan says that she looks very gaunt on the outside, but that's how she looks on camera. These lines were made up by Zhao Liying and were not in the script.
