After 5 days, movie ratings on CCTV-8 continuously decreased; views on the platform were also not positive, only 17.48 million/day.
According to Sohu, the audience's indifference to the film is partly due to controversies surrounding Zhao Liying's acting and dialogue.
As "Little Flower 85" with the clearest transformation roadmap and the earliest success, Trieu Le Dinh is facing a paradoxical situation - successful transformation, but acting has not yet been widely recognized by the public.
In "Tieu thanh dai su", she plays Ly Thu Binh - a grassroots official, the only university student of the district who has studied abroad, speaks fluent French, and is a high-ranking intellectual.
Sohu commented that Trieu Le Dinh wanted to use a loud voice, pronouncing round and clear words to simulate the spirit of the intellectual elite of the previous century, but this excessive "intentionality" made the dialogue feel very heavy "reading the song".
The rigid way of imagining and imitating the old intellectual model also distorts the logical rhythm of the dialogue, most clearly shown in the abrupt and disjointed pauses.
In natural communication, pauses are mainly for breathing or emphasis. But in Trieu Le Dinh's acting, there are many meaningless pauses, not only breaking the flow of the dialogue but also making the character look like a slow reaction.
In fact, suspicions about Trieu Le Dinh's acting have flared up from the movie "Kieu Nghien's Confessions", and to "Xuong Vien Long: Huyen An" it developed into a real reputation crisis.
In 2025, she had many movies and television series aired, including "Sunflower", "On the Human Stage", "Tuong vien long". However, these 3 works considered "high quality" all faced public crisis at different levels.
The Douban score of all 3 is just enough to surpass the average level. If you add "Kieu Nghien's Confessions" at the end of 2024, then the 4 works with Trieu Le Dinh only achieved an average score of 5.85.
According to the media, the more urgent issue for Trieu Le Dinh at this time is not the failure of the work, but the stagnant acting ability.
Since "Kieu Nghien's Confessions", the controversy about her acting has never stopped. Especially when on the big screen, Trieu Le Dinh's expressions are considered sophisticated and empty.
In "Tuong Vien Long", Trieu Le Dinh's acting with the role of Tay Lam female writer has only stopped at the level of "sing slogans", not yet showing the complex psychology behind a vivid and multi-dimensional character.
The failure to express the complexity of the character partly stemmed from the fact that the actress was too familiar with stereotypical character models for a long time.
Trieu Le Dinh's transformation roadmap is very clear: she prioritizes women's themes and the image of resilient women. The roles she chooses all have the color of "great female boss".
In the early stages of transformation, this path proved effective, helping her remove the label "idol movie actress", winning 2 important television awards.
But from "Hanh phuc den van gia" to "Tieu thanh dai su", Trieu Le Dinh seems to fall into a acting pattern: accustomed to hiding behind the "strong, calm" shell, using expression restraint to create character depth.
Except for "Wind Blows Half Summer", Trieu Le Dinh's most impressive role in recent years is Tu Binh in "Article 20". Because Tu Binh is a weak, powerless person, at the bottom of society, she acts simply, her emotions are also direct and intense. This is what helped Trieu Le Dinh bring a completely different performance than before.
That comparison further proves that Zhao Liying needs to break the image of a "big boss", trying her hand at more diverse roles.
