WHEN director Derek Yee Tung-shing saw the first cut for his fourth movie, his first thought was: ''Oh, no, this is the worst film I've ever made!'' Imagine his astonishment then, when C'est La Vie, Mon Cheri opened to critical acclaim, and audiences pushed the box office take to more than $2 million a day.
Yee recently sneaked into a theatre where the film was playing, and found the audience alternately laughing and crying. ''I've never had such a reaction,'' he said, still stunned by it all. ''How did I write a script that makes them laugh, that moves them so much?'' C'est La Vie is a delightfully modest comedy about a spirited young woman (Anita Yuen Wing-yee), part of a performing Temple Street family. She manages to drag her upstairs neighbour (Lau Ching-wun) - who has just broken up with a famous singer (Carina Lau) - back to life and into a new romance.
It outshines most Hong Kong films released this year with its zippy dialogue, credible storytelling, and moving performances from young actors Yuen and Lau, and veteran Fung Bo-bo.
Yee has just returned from a whirlwind publicity tour to Taiwan, where the film has been nominated for six awards at the Golden Horse Awards in December. He is up for two - best director and best screenplay - as he also scripted the work; Yuen is up for best actress, and Fung, who plays Yuen's mother, has been nominated for best supporting actress.
Yee, 36, was born into the film industry: his mother was a Shanghai actress, his father a producer. At 17, Yee joined the Shaw Brothers Studio, and was a contract player for nine years.
He has been cast in so many martial arts movies, to this day he cannot bear to watch any. ''It was like being in a very famous prison. Every day eating the same thing.'' He continues to act - last year he worked in China for five months shooting two films yet to be released in Hong Kong, The Story of Da Mo and The Story of Art, and he has been in a Taiwanese television series. But his real love is writing and directing.
Yee received his chance in 1986 - but his directorial debut was controversial. The Lunatics drew from a true story in 1982, when a mental patient newly-released from Castle Peak Hospital ended up killing six people in Shamshuipo. Residents in Shamshuipo denounced the film for stirring up painful memories, and the Hong Kong Council of Social Service decried its sensationalism.