Tsai Ming-liang’s unique filmmaking has garnered both cinematic and curatorial acclaim. As one of Taiwan cinema’s noted art house directors, his work in the last decade has extended from that of feature length to short art films and installations, such as Your Face (2018), Days (2020), and the Walker series (2012–). Prior to his crossing over to the art gallery, Tsai highlights in his films the cinematic echoing and intertextual citation of French New Wave and New German Cinema, particularly that of François Truffaut and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The connection between French cinema and Tsai’s work can be traced back to What Time Is It There? (2001, hereafter What Time), a film that is said to be haunted by the ghosts of European art films (Martin 2003). In What Time, the protagonist, Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng, Tsai’s signature actor), is seen falling asleep (Figure 4.1), in front of a TV playing Truffaut’s Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959); later, the iconic French New Wave figure Jean-Pierre Léaud – best known for playing Antoine Doinel in Truffaut’s films – has a cameo scene at the end of the film. On the festival scene, What Time competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival and went on to win twelve awards, including those for best director, best picture, and best cinematography, at festivals worldwide.

Tsai’s later films are seen as the ultimate exploration of pure cinematic form, a departure from his early focus on postcolonial Taipei and its social critique. Such is the hallmark status of Visage (2009), part of the Louvre’s first collection of the moving image. The all-star cast of Visage includes Jean-Pierre Léaud, Fanny Ardant, Jeanne Moreau, and Laetitia Casta, and the film certainly epitomises the highest form of recognition Tsai received in France. When asked by Henri Loyrette, Louvre director at the time, ‘What are you planning to film?’, Tsai’s initial response was: ‘I wanted the film to feature Jean-Pierre Léaud and Lee Kang-sheng, and they will meet in the museum’s grounds’ (Tsai 2010a). Tsai has never shied away from his obsession with Lee as his muse, nor from his admiration for Truffaut’s films.