First same-sex romance to get official China cinema release is heavily censored and flops at box office

Director celebrated when his cut of Looking for Rohmer was approved in 2015, but when it was finally screened last week it had been so toned down the lead actors don’t even hold hands; starved of publicity too, it bombed at box office

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Han Geng (left) and Jéremie Elkaïm in a still from Looking for Rohmer, directed by Wang Chao.

Published: 1:15pm, 19 Apr 2018Updated: 6:28pm, 19 Apr 2018

Amid the past week’s furore over Weibo’s botched attempt to ban homosexual content from its microblogging platform, little has been said about the release of what was supposed to be China’s first officially sanctioned film about a same-sex romance – until it got heavily censored.

The film, which opened in cinemas across China last Friday – the day the popular social media site announced its so-called “clean-up” of gay-themed material – Wang Chao’s Looking for Rohmer tells the story, in a series of flashbacks, of a Chinese dancer’s attempt to bring the ashes of his “French companion” to his home village in Provence, southern France.

Any film-goer looking for hints of “same-sex romance” would be disappointed, though. Throughout its 83-minute running time, the couple don’t even hold hands. Physical intimacy is limited to a short post-workout massage in a gym locker room. Theirs is a love that dares not speak its name: off-screen, the film’s official Weibo page describes them as “close friends”.

The watering down of the film is in stark contrast to a message Wang posted on his Weibo page on August 29, 2015, when he revealed the authorities had approved his final cut of Looking for Rohmer for cinematic release.

“A small step from the Film Bureau is a big step for filmmakers,” he wrote. “It’s not easy, and it’s worth celebrating.”

Han Geng plays the lead in Wang Chao’s Looking for Rohmer.

Wang’s joy was short-lived; the director has had to wait another three years to see the film shown in Chinese cinemas.

The release last week of the approved version of Looking for Rohmer is at once timely and ironic, given Weibo’s climbdown on Monday over its clampdown on homosexual content, after a People’s Daily op-ed piece described homosexuality as “normal” and called for an end to discrimination against people with different sexual orientations.