Cover Official pictures from ‘She’s Got No Name’ by Hong Kong director Peter Chan (Photo: Cannes Film Festival)
Official pictures from ‘She’s Got No Name’ by Hong Kong director Peter Chan (Photo: Cannes Film Festival)
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Peter Chan’s film noir stands out for many reasons: from its stellar cast of Zhang Ziyi and Wang Chuan-jun to being based on an unsolved murder
Cannes Film Festival is in full swing, and a number of Asian films are being screened this year such as Tsui Hark’s Shanghai Blues (1984) and Soi Cheang’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024). Also being shown is Hong Kong’s director and producer Peter Chan’s She’s Got No Name (2024), his first work since 2020. Chan, who is known for Dragon (2011), Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996) and many more—is back in Cannes after being on the jury in 2012.
Here’s everything you need to know about Chan’s new movie, which will be premiering at the festival on May 24.
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Peter Chan’s ‘She’s Got No Name’ is based on a real murder
Above Peter Chan’s ‘She’s Got No Name’ poster (Photo: courtesy of Cannes Film Festival)
Peter Chan’s ‘She’s Got No Name’ poster (Photo: courtesy of Cannes Film Festival)
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Starring Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, Chan’s film noir is based on a famous unsolved homicide case in mainland China from the 1940s.
The movie follows the story of a woman named Zhan-Zhou who is accused of brutally murdering and dismembering her husband—a killing that seems impossible for her to have committed alone. Subsequently, her case sparked a revolution in women’s social rights, as her trial revealed that she had been a victim of domestic violence.
Before She’s Got No Name, the story had already inspired other artists, such as Taiwanese writer Li Ang in 1983, who wrote a novel, The Butcher’s Wife, based on the same story.
Zhan-Zhou’s story was on Peter Chan’s mind for 8 years
Above Director Peter Chan (Photo: courtesy of Cannes Film Festival)
Director Peter Chan (Photo: courtesy of Cannes Film Festival)
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The production of the film started in 2015, but filming only began in December 2023. He writes in an official statement that he was first “intrigued by the murder mystery, but then I discovered that I was more captivated by how Zhan-Zhou’s fate intertwined with the fate of her country.”
What drew him into the story, he says in the same statement is also the multiple facets of each character surrounding the murder. “Each character is neither black nor white, neither entirely right nor wrong. Life is not that simple when the world around you is just as complex [...] Despite her [Zhan-Zhou’s] feudal beliefs, she is remarkably resilient, which adds layers of complexity and conflict to her character and raises numerous questions in my mind about who she really is. It is perhaps the resilience, a recurring motif in my films, that attracted me to embark on this journey, this time embodied in the guise of a femme fatale.”
‘She’s Got No Name’ was shot in Shanghai
Above Official pictures of ‘She’s Got No Name’ (Photo: Cannes Film Festival)
Official pictures of ‘She’s Got No Name’ (Photo: Cannes Film Festival)
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As the film is set in the 1940s, it was a challenge for the director and his team to recreate this in the modern day, as very few real-life locations in Shanghai remain in existence from those days. But as his director of photography Jake Pollock explains in a press release, Chan was determined to get the setting right. The press release states that Chan and his team first wanted to shoot scenes in Tianjin in northern China, as some parts of this city somewhat resemble the vibes of 1940s Shanghai. They even considered shooting in London, before choosing the Hongkou district of Shanghai—which was known as “Little Tokyo” during World War I—and the city’s International Settlement district.
An impressive cast
Above Official pictures of ‘She’s Got No Name’ (Photo: Cannes Film Festival)
Above Official pictures of ‘She’s Got No Name’ (Photo: Cannes Film Festival)
Official pictures of ‘She’s Got No Name’ (Photo: Cannes Film Festival)
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Zhang Ziyi, who plays the protagonist Zhan-Zhou, is a mainstay in famous movies such as Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Steven Spielberg’s Memoirs Of A Geisha (2005).
Zhan-Zhou’s husband, nicknamed “Big Bear,” is played by Wang Chuan-jun, who’s known for his roles in films such as Saturday Fiction (2019) by Lou Ye and Hidden Blade (2023) by Cheng Er.
The movie also features Jackson Ye, who plays a blind fortune teller. Hailed as one of the most promising young actors in China, he made his debut in 2019’s Oscar-nominated film Better Days for which he was awarded Best New Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
Salomé Grouard was Digital Editor and Front & Female Content Lead at Tatler Hong Kong. Primarily focused on managing Tatler Hong Kong’s digital platform and content, she also covers gender equality, the music scene and sports through interviews with industry leaders, experts and trendsetters.
Interview highlights include renowned conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, Korean actor Park Seo Jun, singer Jorja Smith, Chinese TV host Yue-Sai Kan, YouTuber Kimono Mom, Japanese rapper Awich, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Mikey Musumeci.
She has also produced stories on revolutionising sexual wellness in Asia, activism within the surfing community, Asian trans musicians reclaiming their narratives through music and looked at the toxicity of gym culture through the lens of the plus-size community. She also covers music festivals, such as Hong Kong’s Clockenflap and Bali’s Suara.
