Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 708 Everyone stand up!

Two thousand audience members in the Lumière Hall of the Palais des Festivals stood up and gave a warm round of applause to the entire creative team of "Marriage Story"!
Li Qiutang knew this was film festival etiquette; as long as the film was good, the audience would stand up and applaud.

But when he stood in the center of the cinema to receive applause and cheers from 2000 audience members, Li Qiutang was still very moved.

Several key members of the "Marriage Story" team also stood up.

This was the first time Liu Yifei had seen the finished film. After filming wrapped, she secretly assessed her performance and felt that it was worthy of the audience and herself.

But when she sat in the Lumière Hall today watching her own performance, she herself could hardly tell who the woman on the big screen was.

Is that me? Is that really me?
Now, receiving applause from two thousand audience members, her mind is blank and buzzing.

She told herself she had to hold back, but she really couldn't.

Li Qiutang sensed his wife's state, gently put his arm around her shoulder, and the two looked at each other without saying a word.

The applause was thunderous and prolonged. The creators did not sit down but remained standing, clapping and accepting the applause from the audience.

As screenwriter Li Qiang applauded, she gave the lead actress Liu Yifei a thumbs-up, and Liu Yifei smiled.

Sitting directly in front of Li Qiutang was Jia Zhangke. Li Qiutang stepped over and shook hands with him.

The official cameras swept across each member of the cast and crew from left to right, and each time a member was filmed, the audience erupted in even louder applause and cheers.

When the camera focused on Li Qiutang in the middle, the entire audience erupted in thunderous cheers. After all, film is the art of the director.

Li Qiutang nodded slightly to the camera, and the camera panned to Liu Yifei beside him.

Liu Yifei's eyes were filled with tears. When the camera focused on her, a tear from her left eye could no longer hold and fell.

Liu Yifei gritted her teeth, trying to calm herself down.

The applause and cheers continued.

Li Qiutang gestured for the main cast to turn around, look at the audience on the second floor, and greet them.

Fan Bingbing sat in the row behind Liu Yifei. Liu Yifei turned around and hugged her.

After watching the movie, Fan Bingbing's first feeling was jealousy. Damn, the acting was really good!

Then came heartfelt congratulations and joy for my friend, for Li Qiutang making such a wonderful film, and for Liu Yifei delivering a textbook performance.

I am once again happy for the two of them to become husband and wife; they are truly a perfect couple in the entertainment industry.

The camera remained focused on the main cast and crew, never leaving their faces.

The applause was thunderous and prolonged. Five minutes later, Fu Mao handed the microphone to Li Qiutang so he could give his post-screening remarks.

The applause gradually subsided at this point.

"Thank you to the Cannes Film Festival, thank you Mr. Thierry Frémaux, thank you to my best cast, and thank you all for spending over two hours watching our film. Thank you." It's not the right time to say too much.

Media outlets captured images of Liu Yifei looking at Li Qiutang with fervent admiration and tender affection as he spoke.

The French interpreter at the scene conveyed Li Qiutang's words to the entire audience, and applause and cheers continued.

The applause lasted for more than a minute before the staff signaled that the main cast and crew could leave.

Li Qiutang walked ahead, holding his wife's hand tightly.

"Great shot!" exclaimed a Chinese reporter standing by the passageway.

"The director is awesome!"

Before long, we came out of the screening room. At the door, there was a film festival staff member holding the international Blu-ray disc cover of "In Time" in one hand and a pen in the other.

Li Qiutang took the pen and signed her name.

It's very late, and the crew has no more scheduled activities for today. "Everyone has worked hard today, so get some rest."

Back in the hotel room, I changed into my loungewear, tidied up, and told my assistants to go back and rest as well.

Liu Yifei suddenly broke down in tears, hugged Li Qiutang, buried her head in his shoulder, and cried uncontrollably.

Li Qiutang patted her on the back and said, "It's okay to cry like this after you win the award. Today is just the premiere."

But Liu Yifei couldn't care less about all that; she was already emotional enough to cry.

"Alright, alright, you won't look pretty if you keep crying."

Liu Yifei glared at him and said, "Bullshit, I'm beautiful no matter what."

"Yes, yes, you're beautiful no matter what." Li Qiutang gently wiped away her tears. "I'm really tired, can I go to sleep now?"

While the main cast and crew went back to their hotel to rest, the domestic media couldn't sleep.

It was still afternoon back home, a lively time, and the Cannes journalists were sending their reports back to China overnight.

"Live from Cannes. Director Li Qiutang's 'Marriage Story' premieres in Cannes with seven minutes of thunderous applause!"

"Cannes First Line. The film 'Marriage Story,' directed by Li Qiutang and starring Liu Yifei, Qin Hao, and others, premiered today at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. The film tells the story of… The Palais des Festivals was packed, and after the screening, more than two thousand audience members stood up and applauded and cheered for the creators for a long time."

"At the premiere of 'Marriage Story,' our reporter interviewed audience members outside the cinema. They all praised it as a masterpiece, saying that the director reflected the reality of life and the actors' performances were sincere and natural. Some audience members even predicted that Liu Yifei was a strong candidate for Best Actress."

The Cannes Film Festival program is usually released around noon the day after the film premiere, but you can usually pick it up at your hotel the next morning.

Liu Yifei usually sleeps in late, but today she got up very early and went downstairs to pick up the program booklet in her slippers.

Yesterday, three films premiered in the main competition: "Heart Piercer," "Capernaum," and "Marriage Story."

Liu Yifei flipped through the pages one by one. "Piercing Heart" scored 1.6 points and was criticized by the media as "visually gorgeous but empty in content".

"Capernaum" scored 2.7 points, which is a good score, but it was also criticized for its "loose structure".

Turning to "Marriage Story," Liu Yifei first checked the score: 2.9, a very good score. Media praised the film for "depicting realistic life" and "using restrained and subtle language," but some negative reviews claimed that "Marriage Story" "lacked innovation."

Ah~~ How can you say there's no innovation? Do you even understand movies? This is called still waters run deep.

Liu Yifei wanted to see their evaluations of the actors.

"The actors' performances were a pleasant surprise." That's all.

This one sentence can make Liu Yifei happy for half a day.

At this moment, Li Qiutang got up. "What are you laughing about there like an idiot?"

"Hey, the higher-ups said you lacked innovation and that your film was boring."

"Do film critics even understand movies?" Director Li doesn't care about that.

"They also said my performance was a pleasant surprise."

"They really don't understand movies."

"Huh?" Liu Yifei paused for half a second, then realized what she meant. "Who are you talking about!"

The two ate breakfast in their room, then left the hotel together to conduct interviews.

Li Qiutang has five interviews scheduled for this morning.

At 11 a.m., the film "Marriage Story" held a post-screening press conference to answer reporters' questions.

(End of this chapter)