This is a well cast and nicely filmed but uneven movie. The 2 leads Li Bing Bing and Gianna Jun are lovely in different ways. Only Asian actresses could play the same characters as teens and in their 30s convincingly.

The story concerns two pairs of best girl friends, one set in present day and one pair set in the mid 1800s in China. The modern story is a bit less interesting than the modern one. The 1800s story has bound feet (ouch), civil war and rural poverty. The modern story is about career and love with a foreigner (an unintentionally hilarious Hugh Jackman - that song!).

The changes between the 2 stories are a bit too frequent. It isn't confusing about who is who but it just breaks up and jumbles the narrative a little too much.

The movie is a bit long and maudlin. With too many lingering sad looks. Feel like shouting Hurry Up sometimes! That is the old fashioned Chinese soap opera part of it.

Overall worth one watch.

"Snow Flower and The Secret Fan" is a beautiful, tender and interesting movie. Do people in China still have "laotong" or did it stop when women stopped binding their feet? What if the matchmaker paired up boys and girls from a young age just like in the movie so when they grow up, they already know and love one another instead of being forced into a marriage?

Snow Flower parallels two friendships, but not very well. The older story of two girls that both had bound feet and by lautong is rich - but the film has trouble translating it into the modern day story.