The film wrapped up production at the end of last year, and after four months of post-production, it was selected as the opening film for the Cannes Film Festival in May. It was also shortlisted for the main competition and ultimately won the Jury President's Prize, which is second only to the Palme d'Or.
During the screening of the film, Link's performance unexpectedly received praise from numerous film critics.
In French media outlets, many reviews described Link's performance in the film as more impressive than veteran actors Zhou Runfa and Gong Li. Some critics even claimed that the scenes where Link, Gong Li, and Zhou Runfa acted opposite each other raised the quality of the film to an exceptionally high level.
As a result, Link received a nomination for Best Actor, but narrowly lost to the four lead actors of the French film "Days of Glory" during the selection process.
