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Indeed, actress Mylène Jampanoï (Min Li) had to learn all of her lines phonetically. She uses the word “feeling” to describe the relationship that grew between herself and Xiaoran. In an interview with website Allocine.fr, Jampanoï says, “When we were connected, everything flowed, and when we weren't Dai Sijie helped us to find ourselves again”. Li Xiaoran (Cheng An) gives credit for their chemistry to the fact that they “were lucky… to read the same script and to understand it the same way”.

Although the film takes place in the China of the 80's, one of its assets is timelessness. “The most important are the relations between the characters," says Dai Sijie, "Even the relation between An and the botanist are very classic, she can't leave nor her father, nor the garden. He knows it and uses it. It's another form of love, a filial love, that exists in every society, and in every time.”

But in a time when conventional China is codified by men and leaves little room to the emotional blooming of the women, the means by which Min Li and An stay together also consumes them and drives them to their inevitable loss. Without wanting to, the viewer becomes the witness of a story that can't end well. Emotional tension builds in the film until what will be the final explosion.

Although some scenes between the girls border on sappy and the filming and telling of the story is a bit classical, the film is lushly beautiful--both aesthetically and intellectually.

The film serves as a reminder that homosexuality is still taboo in China, so much so that the filmmaker received no financing from the Chinese government and was not permitted to shoot on location in the country.

“Because of the subject, we couldn't resort to a Chinese production company," says Dai Sijie, "it couldn't have gotten the authorization to invest in the movie.” Investors were eventually found in France and Canada, and the film was finally shot in Vietnam.

Despite these considerable obstacles and even without explicit love scenes, the world of Les Filles du Botaniste is an exotic and erotic atmosphere that viewers will not soon forget.

Les Filles du Botaniste is not currently playing in the U.S.,
but you can get more info at LesFillesduBotaniste.com

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