Except the fact that Xie Xian is miscast as Fei Yun-Fan (one of the two main male characters who eventually gets the girl),  this movie is well done with Bai Jing Rui's super direction, Liu Jia Chang's fantastic music and of course the great performance and chemistry between Charlie & Chen Chen.

All the scenes between Charlie (plays Chu Lian) and Chen Chen (plays Zi Ling) are the highlights of this movie.

My favorite scene in this movie is the one when Charlie and Chen Chen are surrounded by the wild reed.   Charlie tells Chen Chen he wants to tell the whole world that he loves her.  Then Chen Chen says Go Ahead.  Charlie waves his arms and shout loudly, "I love Zi Ling!  I love Zi Ling!  I love Zi Ling! ..."  In the background, it is the beautiful music of the theme song "Yi Lian You Meng" composed by Liu Jia Chang.  Although quite short, this scenes remains as one of my favorite love scenes in all the TW Romance movies.

You have to watch it yourself to witness the so-lovely Charlie & Chen Chen being together.

The acting and the performance

Charlie is great, he plays all the emotional scenes with truthfulness which touches your heart deeply.  When Charlie knows he can't be together with Chen Chen any more, his face and body language is perfect to make you feel his pain and sorrow.   Chen Chen is also great, although she is not in her prettiest look in this movie as in her other QY's movies.   Most Chen Chen's fans consider this movie along with "The Yong Ones" (Cai Yun Fei), "Where the Seagull Flies" as their top 3 most favorite CC's movies.  Noted that all of these three movies are QY's movies!  Well, whether you like it or not, you have to admit QY's power.  QY's movies are the vehicle to bring so many stars up to their stardom and she is still making stars even today in her TV series.  In 70s, Charlie Chin, Chin Han, Brigitte Lin, Chen Chen are always in their best and most shining in the QY's movies that they made among all of the romance movies they played.

If  you have read the book by Qiong Yao, you would love both of the two men in this story.  In the QY's book, Yun Fan (the character Xie Xian plays) is a very charming and mature man (very wealthy, thoughtful, considerate) that every girl will be glad to marry to.  However, if you watch this movie, I doubt that anyone could falls for Xie Xian.  Simply put, Xie Xian is not the right choice for his role,  he is terrible and has no charms whatsoever as the character he plays.  

Every fan that I know of  love the paring of Chen Chen and Charlie in this movie, but not Chen Chen & Xie Xian.  They even wish that Charlie and Chen could end up together in spite of the plot.   Poor Xie Xian, although you wins the girl in the movie (also the ex-husband of CC in real life), you haven't win the audiences' heart.  Ke Jun Xiong would have been much better for the role than Xie Xian.  

The Music----Maybe you have listened to the song "Yi Lian You Meng" before, but it is not the same if you haven't watched the movie.  This beautiful song/melody is way much better in the movie, I like the instrumental version (without lyrics) even better than the song (with lyrics).  It is so powerful, which makes all the emotional scenes even more touching.  Liu Jia Chang is indeed a music genius!

The Director------ Did I tell you how much I love Bai Jing Rui's directing?  He is one of my favorite QY's movie directors.  His QY's movies are made with heart, although he is not interested to make the cheesy romantic scenes like the kissing, hugging, walking on the beach, etc.  The love scenes in his QY's movies are mostly very short and concise, but he always manages to bring out the essence of the QY's book.  Other QY's movies directed by Bai Jing Rui are Autumn Love Song, Girl Friend, and Ren Zai Tian Ya (Far Away From Home).

Novel: Qiong Yao 

Director:  Bai Jing Rui 

Starring: Chen Chen, Charlie Chin, Xie Xian, Wang Ping

Music:  Liu Jia Chang

Year: 1974