Plot:
A young couple in their 30s, amidst the rising prices, make a decision to buy a house. Initially, they set their sights on a two-bedroom apartment, but later, driven by vanity and material desires, they end up spending all their savings and taking out a huge loan to buy a villa. As a result, they are burdened with heavy economic pressure, becoming "mortgage slaves," and various trivial matters follow one after another. Their relationship deteriorates, their work relations become strained, pushing this originally happy family to the brink of collapse. In the end, they come to terms with reality, sell the villa, and buy the initial two-bedroom apartment, and life becomes beautiful again.
Behind-the-scenes production:
Director's statement:
During the second creative stage, I made some appropriate changes to the original script based on my own understanding, mainly from our generation's perspective on the housing fever issue. The biggest change to the script is the ending because I was thinking, why do we care so much about others' opinions? Why let those unfounded trivial matters bother us? Why let houses lead us around? A luxurious villa should be a symbol of a better life, but in the end, we treat it like a plague, selling it quickly and settling for what we call happiness. I think that makes the characters too passive and negative, failing to reflect our generation’s, or even all Chinese people’s, striving and progress. Therefore, my protagonists will not go against their initial pursuit; they want to live in a villa and lead the most ideal, most beautiful life. Let others mock or gossip; they will never give up. This is just like Hollywood's admiration for the "American Dream," which simply put, is as long as you work hard, you will succeed. This is actually a universal rule applicable everywhere, a spirit that every nation promotes positively. It's just that Chinese films currently aren't emphasizing it as purely as Hollywood does, and we should also have our own "Chinese Dream." Thus, the main content I try to express in this movie emerges—dreams.
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