“˜Balzac’ creator gives local talk on book, film

Santa Monica’s Midnight Special Bookstore was packed
Tuesday night with an audience ranging from teenagers to elderly
ladies, all listening to bestselling author Dai Sijie, whose novel
“Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” has been
translated into 31 languages and made into a film by the writer
himself.

The author and director of “Balzac” expressed his
deep regard for literature to the crowd at the Midnight Special. He
talked about details from the novel that were taken from his own
experiences during the repressive Cultural Revolution in China
under Mao Zedong in the ’70s.

“I wanted to show the part of the revolution that became
less violent to the people, but more absurd,” Sijie said
through a translator.

“Balzac” revolves around one particular absurdity,
the banning and burning of most literature in China. Inspired by
Sijie’s life, the story tells of two young boys who steal a
trunk of forbidden books and share their new wealth of knowledge
with a local seamstress girl.

“When I wrote the book I didn’t want to give any
message. It’s just a tribute to the literature that changed
our lives,” Sijie said.

“One of the first things we thought of was to read those
books to girls,” Sijie added, chuckling. “But in real
life she wasn’t a seamstress, she was a peasant, but she was
very pretty, a real beauty. You might think of people in poor
countries to be ugly, but not in this case.”

Though being nominated for last Sunday’s best foreign film
Golden Globe, “Balzac” has yet to be released in the
United States. When asked if it eventually would be distributed,
Sijie’s producer, Lise Fayolle, answered on his behalf.

“I hope soon; we are in negotiation right now with
companies. Hopefully Spring,” Fayolle said.

The film, which includes all the material found in the book as
well as some new scenes, was originally released in France and has
spread to other countries like Canada. Yet it may never be released
in Sijie’s native country.

“When we decided to adapt the novel to the movie, we had
to live in Beijing for one year and every day go to the censorship
office to try to bargain with them,” Sijie said. “And
now the film is done, but we still don’t have the
authorization to release the film in China.”

“To this day, I could never publish a word of Chinese in
China,” Sijie said. “Maybe in 10 years the film will be
distributed in China.”

Though influenced by his upbringing in China, Sijie would likely
have been a silent voice if not for his migration out of the
country as a result of a special scholarship. He went to study in
France, where he first became a filmmaker and later specialized in
screenwriting. “Balzac” is his first novel.

“At the beginning, I had no idea it could become a
film,” Sijie said.

After an hour and a half of answering questions, Sijie retired
from the podium and signed copies of “Balzac,” a
remarkable work considering Sijie wrote it in his second language,
French.

“Even when I make mistakes, I thought I could tell a story
““ so I had to tell a story I knew by heart,” Sijie
said.