Eat Drink Man Woman (Chinese: 飲食男女) is a 1994 comedy-drama film directed by Ang Lee, from a script co-written with James Schamus and Hui-Ling Wang.[2] It stars Sihung Lung, Wang Yu-wen, Wu Chien-lien, and Yang Kuei-mei.[3] as members of the Zhu family navigate the challenges of love, life, tradition and family. Part of Lee's "Father Knows Best" trilogy[4] and similar to Lee's other works, this film deals with the transition from tradition to modernity.[5] It is Lee's only film, to date, to be shot entirely in his native Taiwan.
The film premiered in Taiwan on July 2, 1994, and it was both a critical and box office success.[6] It won several accolades including an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.[7] It was also nominated for both a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award, as well as three Golden Horse Awards and six Independent Spirit Awards. It would inspire films like Tortilla Soup and Joyful Reunion [8] and has an eponymous musical rendition.[9] A BBC Culture poll of film critics ranked the film at number 54 of the 100 Greatest Non-English Language Films.[10]
The title is a quote from the Book of Rites, one of the Confucian classics, referring to the basic human desires and accepting them as natural. The beginning of the quote reads as follows: “The things which men greatly desire are comprehended in food and drink and sexual pleasure.”[a][11]
