# Hear Me
**Hear Me** (聽說) is a 2009 Taiwanese romantic comedy-drama directed by Cheng Fen-fen (鄭芬芬), centered on a hearing young man who falls in love with a woman he believes is deaf, against the backdrop of Taipei's preparations for the 2009 Summer Deaflympics. Most of its dialogue is delivered in sign language with subtitles, and it became the highest-grossing Taiwanese film of 2009.[1](https://hre.pro.edu.tw/vedu/4065) • [2](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/article/9398)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 28 August 2009, Taiwan; 109 minutes, 35mm color[1](https://hre.pro.edu.tw/vedu/4065) • [3](https://arclight.pixnet.net/blog/post/25808390) |
| Director / producer | Cheng Fen-fen (鄭芬芬); produced by Peggy Chiao (焦雄屏)[4](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E8%81%BD%E8%AA%AA) |
| Cast | Eddie Peng (彭于晏), Ivy Chen (陳意涵), Michelle Chen (陳妍希), Lo Pei-An (羅北安), Lin Mei-Hsiu (林美秀)[4](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E8%81%BD%E8%AA%AA) |
| Box office | NT$14.56 million in greater Taipei, the top-grossing Taiwanese film of 2009[2](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/article/9398) |
| Public funding | NT$3 million subsidy from the Taipei City Government in collaboration with the 2009 Deaflympics[5](https://www.filmcommission.taipei/en/newsCT.aspx?id=2805&pid=62) |
| Honors | Golden Horse Award nomination for Best New Actress (Michelle Chen); Taipei Film Festival Best Actress 2010 (Ivy Chen); Osaka Asian Film Festival audience award 2010[6](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VD00000265) |
| Remake | Korean remake *Hear Me: Our Summer* (2024), premiered in a special premiere section at the Busan International Film Festival[7](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20233261) |
## Spoilers
### Story
Huang Tian-kuo (黃天闊), played by [Eddie Peng](https://www.edgepedia.org/eddie-peng), is the son of a family that runs a lunchbox (bento) shop. One day he delivers food to the training pool of the national deaf swimming team and meets two sisters: Xiao-peng (小朋), a deaf swimmer played by [Michelle Chen](https://www.edgepedia.org/michelle-chen), and her younger sister Yang-yang (秧秧), played by Ivy Chen, who supports her sister's training. Tian-kuo, who knows sign language, falls for Yang-yang and pursues her, preparing lunches and finding excuses to meet.[4](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E8%81%BD%E8%AA%AA) • [8](https://www.myvideo.net.tw/details/0/2543)
The romance turns on a misunderstanding: because of sign language and assumptions the script treats as natural, each believes the other is deaf.[9](https://www.tfai.org.tw/Content/TFI/PublicInfo/%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E5%B9%B4%E9%91%912010%E5%B9%B4.pdf) A quarrel in which Yang-yang believes Tian-kuo looks down on her, and an accident that threatens Xiao-peng's chance to swim for Taiwan at the [Deaflympics](https://www.edgepedia.org/deaflympics), supply the film's conflicts.[4](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E8%81%BD%E8%AA%AA) The closing line, that love and dreams are strange things that can be felt without hearing, speaking, or translation, became one of the film's most quoted moments.[10](https://filmreview.tw/2011-01-15-1373/)
## Production and the Deaflympics connection
The idea came from a newspaper reader's letter describing a love story between a deaf person and a hearing person. Cheng Fen-fen conceived the story in 2007, learned late that year that Taipei would host the 2009 Deaflympics, and wrote the Games into the script as its background; the script was completed in 2008, and the Deaflympics organizers, having read it, agreed to cooperate in early 2009.[11](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9375) The film received NT$3 million from the Taipei City Government as part of its Deaflympics collaboration and was fully supported by the Taipei Film Commission, which helped arrange locations including the swimming pool of ShiPai Junior High School, the Beitou and Zhongshan sports centers, Guandu Nature Park, and the Xinyi district pedestrian area.[5](https://www.filmcommission.taipei/en/newsCT.aspx?id=2805&pid=62) • [12](https://www.filmcommission.taipei/retrieve/021d5e526fd54e7.pdf) • [10](https://filmreview.tw/2011-01-15-1373/)
From the start of principal photography to release took about half a year, announced in spring and in cinemas by summer.[10](https://filmreview.tw/2011-01-15-1373/) Sign-language teachers worked on set; the director had the actors first learn correct sign expression and then adjust the force and rhythm of their gestures for the camera, and a sign-language consultant reviewed the dialogue to check that it matched how deaf people actually speak with each other.[11](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9375) • [3](https://arclight.pixnet.net/blog/post/25808390)
## Reception
The film opened on 28 August 2009 and its weekend box office rose for several consecutive weeks, reaching NT$14.56 million in greater Taipei; only a handful of Taiwanese films in the preceding decade had crossed NT$20 million nationwide, and *Hear Me* was counted among them.[2](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/article/9398) Reviewers credited its plain, unadorned storytelling and the performances of its three young leads, noting that it succeeded without first-rank stars or a famous director, with producer Peggy Chiao's distribution experience playing a supporting role.[4](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E8%81%BD%E8%AA%AA) A Hong Kong review praised a ten-minute quarrel between the sisters, played entirely without sound, as the film's high point, while criticizing the heavy use of sign language that made parts of the film feel like a silent movie.[13](https://the-sun.on.cc/cnt/entertainment/20091114/00470_065.html)
Michelle Chen was nominated for the Golden Horse Award for Best New Actress for her role as Xiao-peng.[13](https://the-sun.on.cc/cnt/entertainment/20091114/00470_065.html) Ivy Chen won Best Actress at the 2010 Taipei Film Festival, and the film won the audience-voted Most Popular Film award at the 2010 Osaka Asian Film Festival.[6](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VD00000265) It was also screened in the Panorama section of the 2009 [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival).[14](https://taiwun.ncue.edu.tw/files/news/451_825f5b47.pdf)
## Representation of deafness and later life
Commentary on the film has been divided on its treatment of deaf characters. Some critics argued that the ending's logic is not friendly to deaf viewers, and that the romance between the hearing man and the woman believed deaf bends toward mainstream hearing-society values rather than imagining love on deaf terms.[9](https://www.tfai.org.tw/Content/TFI/PublicInfo/%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E5%B9%B4%E9%91%912010%E5%B9%B4.pdf) Others noted that the film approaches its subject with humor and warmth rather than sorrow, showing deaf and hearing characters building a bridge of communication, and that for sign-language users seeing their language on screen generated discussion of its own.[1](https://hre.pro.edu.tw/vedu/4065) • [10](https://filmreview.tw/2011-01-15-1373/)
The film's afterlife has been substantial for a small production. It circulated internationally, opening the Chicago International Film Festival's Taiwan program in 2012,[15](https://news.pts.org.tw/article/208761) and found a renewed audience in South Korea, where it helped spark a wave of interest in Taiwanese "first love" films.[16](https://udn.com/news/story/120910/7147562) The Korean remake *Hear Me: Our Summer* (2024) premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2024.[7](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20233261)
## References
1. [《聽說》用電影關心聽障人的生活, 教育人權教育資源網](https://hre.pro.edu.tw/vedu/4065)
2. [質量攀升，走向觀眾：2009台灣電影年度觀察, 放映週報](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/article/9398)
3. [聽奧結合電影 國片「聽說」開拍, 電影《聽說》部落格](https://arclight.pixnet.net/blog/post/25808390)
4. [聽說, Cinespot 動映地帶](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E8%81%BD%E8%AA%AA)
5. [Hear Me voted most popular movie in Osaka Film Festival, Taipei Film Commission](https://www.filmcommission.taipei/en/newsCT.aspx?id=2805&pid=62)
6. [聽說 Hear Me, LiTV 立視線上影視](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VD00000265)
7. [Hear Me: Our Summer (2024), Korean Film Council](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20233261)
8. [聽說 線上看, MyVideo](https://www.myvideo.net.tw/details/0/2543)
9. [城市行銷X電影風情, 2009台灣電影年鑑 (Taipei Film Commission PDF)](https://www.tfai.org.tw/Content/TFI/PublicInfo/%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E5%B9%B4%E9%91%912010%E5%B9%B4.pdf)
10. [城市行銷X電影風情, 愛護你的膝關節](https://filmreview.tw/2011-01-15-1373/)
11. [我用愛情電影認識「新朋友」：《聽說》導演鄭芬芬專訪, 放映週報](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9375)
12. [臺北市電影委員會三年紀事 2008–2010.11](https://www.filmcommission.taipei/retrieve/021d5e526fd54e7.pdf)
13. [《聽說》寧靜中牽動人心, 太陽報 (14 November 2009)](https://the-sun.on.cc/cnt/entertainment/20091114/00470_065.html)
14. [2009 德國柏林影展 Panorama 電影大觀 (NCUE PDF)](https://taiwun.ncue.edu.tw/files/news/451_825f5b47.pdf)
15. [台灣電影「聽說」芝加哥電影節首映, 公視新聞網 PNN (2012)](https://news.pts.org.tw/article/208761)
16. [不只有《想見你》！這部電影也讓韓國人沉醉, 聯合新聞網](https://udn.com/news/story/120910/7147562)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2009 to 2010 › Released in 2009*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license