Death, life and femininity with Dai Sijie

Set in Chengdu and Paris, the 84-minute feature narrates a Chinese French flutist's intricate relationships with three man – a silk expert, the silk expert's son, and a tattooist (also the expert's brother).

The young woman travels to Chengdu as a foreign student and as a visiting musician in a local symphony orchestra. Her somewhat May-December romance with the expert plunges the son into mental dissociation, as he has a secret passion for his father's lover. Fleeing from the heart-breaking mess, the woman starts a new life when she meets the tattooist in Paris.

Liu was cast as the female lead, and the male characters are played by star Hong Kong singer-actor Leon Lai, mainland actors Yu Shaoqun and Liu Ye.

The Sino-French coproduction, also Dai's first feature to be generally released in the Chinese mainland in his directorial career which has spanned 30 years, will premier on May 20.

For the art-house filmmaker, love is the not the only theme.

Another parallel theme evoked by the night peacock is exploring the meaning of life and death.

When the French flutist first meets the expert, he is kneeling down to play Chiba, one of China's oldest musical instruments, as it mourns for the about-to-be-killed silkworm chrysalises. The chrysalises are killed by the high temperature required to harvest their cocoons, the raw materials to make silk.

The director says this part has its symbolic meanings.

"When a silkworm chrysalis breaks the egg to turn into a beautiful moth, it is like gaining a new life," explains the director.

"The transformation from an ugly existence to a beautiful creature is a sublimation of life. Sometimes I even think humanity may evolve to be a creature like this," says Dai, with excitement shining in his eyes.

So the director seems to give his merciful solution in the movie. As narrated in the tale – which may be fictional or real – the night peacock is the only such creature which can let humanity obtain silk without being killed for it.

In addition to the philosophical questions about the relationship between man and nature, the film draws attention for its discussion of femininity.