Mum’s the Word: Hit Chinese Film Hi Mom Sparks Debate About Motherhood

《你好，李焕英》

A Chinese comedian’s directoral debut about a woman who travels back in time to see her dead mother has become the fourth highest grossing film in the country’s history and the highest ever for a female director.

一位中国喜剧演员的导演处女作，讲述了一个女人穿越时空回到过去看望已故母亲的故事，这部电影成为了中国历史上票房第四高的电影，也是有史以来女导演票房最高的电影。

Jia Ling’s Hi Mom opened a fortnight ago and has drawn ticket sales of more than 4.5bn RMB ($700m US), according to box office tracker Maoyan. It is the fastest any Chinese movie has sold that much, the tracker said.

根据票房追踪机构“猫眼”的数据，贾玲的《你好，李焕英》于两周前上映，票房收入已超过45亿元人民币（7亿美元）。“猫眼”称，这是中国票房这么高的电影中最快达到这一票房数的电影。

Jia wrote, directed and starred in the film, described as a tearjerker comedy, as a tribute to her own mother, who died when Jia was 19. The film has sparked a conversation in China about women, motherhood and parenting.

贾玲自编自导并主演了这部被认为催人泪下的喜剧电影，以此纪念在她19岁时去世的母亲。这部电影在中国引发了一场关于女性、母亲身份和养育子女的讨论。

Hi Mom follows the story of young woman, Jia Xiaoling, whose mother dies in a car accident in 2001. The character, who feels she hadn’t been a good enough daughter, travels back in time to 1981, determined to meet her mother and help give her a better life, including by attempting to set her up with a different man.

《你好，李焕英》讲述的是一个年轻女子贾晓玲的故事，她的母亲在2001年死于一场车祸。这个角色觉得自己一直不是个好女儿，于是穿越回到1981年，决心去见自己的母亲，并帮助她过上更好的生活，包括为她介绍另一个男人。

Director Jia told Chinese media she had been tormented after the death of her mother, but hoped audience would enjoy the spirit and optimism on display in the film, rather than focus on the sadness.

贾玲导演在接受中国媒体采访时表示，母亲去世后，她一直备受折磨，但她希望观众能欣赏电影中展现的精神和乐观，而不是专注于悲伤。

“Our mum’s love for us is like air – it is there since we were born, so we often ignore it,” Jia told state TV.

贾玲接受国家电视台采访时表示：“妈妈对我们的爱就像空气——从你出生时就有，所以你经常忽略它。”

“But when we lose it, we experience a sense of suffocation and helplessness.”

“但是当你失去的时候，你才体会那种窒息感和无助感。”

Audiences, who have only recently started returning to cinemas in large numbers since the pandemic, have been drawn to the story of family loss, and the identity of women as mothers.

自疫情爆发以来，观众们直到最近才开始大量重返电影院，他们被这个关于家庭成员去世以及作为母亲身份的女性故事所吸引。

On microblogging platform, Weibo, one hashtag relating to the movie had been viewed more than 1.67bn times, and reposted more than 580,000 times.

在微博平台上，一个与这部电影相关的话题标签已经被浏览超过16.7亿次，转发超过58万次。

“The movie is telling a story of cherishing family and the awakening of contemporary women’s consciousness,” wrote one audience member on review site, Douban.

一名观众在影评网站豆瓣上写道：“这部电影讲述了一个珍惜家庭和当代女性意识觉醒的故事。”

The film has also sparked discussion online about what people would tell their mothers if they could go back in time, like in the film, and comes amid a growing national conversation about marriage.

这部电影也在网上引发了热议，人们讨论如果能像电影中那样回到过去，人们会对自己的母亲说些什么，并且这部电影的上映正值关于婚姻的全国性讨论日益升温之际。

Many viewers said they would tell their mothers not to marry their fathers or have children.

许多观众表示，他们会告诉自己的母亲不要嫁给自己的父亲或生孩子。

Jia, 38, rose to fame as a comedian after appearing on a celebrity impressions show, Your Face Sounds Familiar, in 2012, and has previously spoken about the struggles of working in a male-dominated industry. After starring in several TV shows and films, and setting up her own production company, she wrote Hi Mom over three years.

现年38岁的贾玲在2012年参加一档明星模仿节目《百变大咖秀》后，以喜剧演员的身份走红，此前她曾讲述过在一个男性主导的行业中工作的艰难。在出演了几部电视剧和电影，并成立了自己的制作公司后，她花了三年多的时间创作了《你好，李焕英》。

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