Breaking the Silence (漂亮妈妈)
Breaking the Silence (漂亮妈妈) is a 2000 Chinese drama film directed by Sun Zhou (孙周) and starring Gong Li (巩俐), produced by the Pearl River Film Studio. It follows Sun Liying, a laid-off factory worker in Beijing who raises her congenitally deaf son Zheng Da alone after her husband leaves, teaching him to speak and fighting to place him in a regular school.1 Gong Li won the Best Actress award at the Montreal World Film Festival for the role, along with the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress, and the film won the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Picture.1
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / English title | 漂亮妈妈 / Breaking the Silence2 |
| Director / writer | Sun Zhou; screenplay by Liu Heng, Sun Zhou, and Xiao Xiaoli3 |
| Production / release | Pearl River Film Studio, produced 1999, released in China February 13, 2000; 90 minutes1 • 3 |
| Stars | Gong Li as Sun Liying; Gao Xin, a deaf schoolboy, as her son Zheng Da1 • 4 |
| Awards | Montreal World Film Festival Best Actress, Golden Rooster Best Actress, Hundred Flowers Best Picture and Best Actress; Golden Rooster Best Picture nomination1 |
| Audience ratings | Douban 7.4/10 (14,100 voters, December 2023); Mtime 7.2/10 (266 voters)5 |
Spoilers
Plot
Sun Liying (孙丽英) is a factory worker in Beijing whose son Zheng Da (郑大) was born deaf. Because of the child's hearing loss, her husband divorces her, and she takes sole responsibility for teaching him to speak and read, getting him into school, and supporting the family.1 She quits a well-paid job at a foreign-owned company to take work delivering newspapers from a tricycle so she can keep the boy with her during the day.1
The story turns on ordinary setbacks. At the primary school entrance examination the principal recommends a school for the deaf, and the boy fails despite a hearing aid that would let him manage in class.3 A hearing aid costs 5,000 yuan, a sum Sun Liying describes as astronomical for her, and she endures humiliation to raise the money; classmates mock the device, a fight breaks it, and her ex-husband refuses to help pay for a replacement.6 • 3 She takes additional work as a housekeeper, sells books at an unlicensed street stall and is caught by police, and finally saves enough for an expensive new aid that the boy at first refuses to wear as his own sense of self emerges.3
Production and casting
Sun Zhou had worked mainly in television and advertising through the 1990s after winning the Golden Rooster Award for Best Director with Xin Xiang (1992); in 1998 Chen Kaige cast him as Crown Prince Dan in The Emperor and the Assassin, where he renewed his acquaintance with Gong Li, and that meeting led to their collaboration on this film.7 The screenplay was written by Liu Heng in 1999.1
Casting the son. The role of Zheng Da went to Gao Xin, a third-grade student at a school for the deaf in Guangzhou whose own hearing loss stemmed from a medical error in childhood; it was his first film.4 • 2 At premiere events Gao Xin, coached on the spot by Gong Li, thanked audiences in effortful, indistinct speech.4
Gong Li prepared by living among community women for more than a month before shooting began, and she appears without makeup in the role; Sun Zhou nonetheless judged her still "a little too pretty" and wanted her back more hunched.8 She described the character as unlike anyone she had played before, "a woman you can see on any street," and said the part was exhausting to play.9
Release and reception
The film received one of the most elaborate domestic promotional campaigns for a Chinese film to that point, with eight cast-and-audience meetings over two days and discussions with workers and disabled moviegoers before release.4 Gong Li, who had just served as president of the Berlin International Film Festival jury, declined to enter the film in competition there; after its screening, audiences, jurors, and journalists reportedly regretted that it had not competed, and foreign viewers were said to have wept at it.8 • 10
Domestic box office. Commercial results fell short of the publicity. On its first day of Beijing release the film drew about a hundred viewers and a few thousand yuan across the city, and in Xi'an, where it opened May 5, 2000, attendance and receipts were described as dismal outside group bookings; some moviegoers said they avoided the film on the strength of Gong Li's recent reputation.10 • 11 Commentators attributed the weak draw to the film's plain, uneventful treatment of a familiar laid-off-worker subject, with realistic scenes and no suspense or climax.10
Critical response in China was warmer than the market. Sina Entertainment's review called it a classic of plain, everyday filmmaking, praising Sun Zhou's delicate direction and Gong Li's performance.5 The Qilu Evening News praised the character's resilience through layoffs, divorce, and hardship, and the magazine Audio World noted the film's scattered-point narrative structure and its use of long takes, such as a phone-booth call and a scene of Sun Liying weeping alone in a McDonald's, to carry the protagonist's emotions.5 On aggregate ratings the film has held a solid reputation: 7.4 of 10 on Douban from 14,100 voters and 7.2 of 10 on Mtime from 266 voters, as of late 2023.5
The film reached Japanese theaters on June 8, 2002 under the title Kirei na Okaasan (きれいなおかあさん), distributed by Movie Television and JCP.3
Awards
Gong Li won Best Actress at the Montreal World Film Festival, the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress, and the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress for her performance.1 The film itself was nominated for Best Picture at the 20th Golden Rooster Awards and won Best Picture at the 24th Hundred Flowers Awards.1 Sun Zhou and Gong Li worked together again on Zhou Yu's Train (2002).7
References
- 漂亮妈妈, 快懂百科 (Baike.com)
- きれいなおかあさん, 映画.com
- きれいなおかあさん, KINENOTE
- 《漂亮妈妈》是漂亮还是不漂亮, 北京晚报 via Sina (2000)
- 漂亮妈妈（2000年巩俐主演的亲情电影）, 百度百科
- 巩俐婚后在大陆主演首部影片《漂亮妈妈》, 南方日报 via Sina (1999)
- 孙周斩不断的"文艺"尾巴, 新民周刊 via Sina (2009)
- 《漂亮妈妈》漂亮巩俐, Sina (2000)
- 《漂亮妈妈》催生了新巩俐, 钱江晚报 via Sina (2000)
- 巩俐：一个人的战争, 哈尔滨日报 via Sina (2000)
- 《漂亮妈妈》西安遭冷遇, 成都商报 via Sina (2000)
Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1990s › Drama films late 1990s › Released in 1999
Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026
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