"It is a shift to middle age," the 41-year-old director said. "I wanted to show people already pressured by parenthood, responsibility and work, and how they cope when faced with a sudden disaster."

The film is set in Beijing, but the images are of a large, faceless contemporary Chinese city, where scores of grey, high-rise apartment blocks form a physical maze as complex and oppressive as the emotional one negotiated by the main characters.

"In China, and especially Beijing, everything is changing fast, growing and developing," Wang said. "Everything that was traditional can now only be found in history books."

Wang added, however, that human beings essentially stay the same. "I hope my film can leave people thinking and looking at their lives," he said.

The original Chinese title of the film is Zuo You or Left Right, a reference to the opposing pull of the characters' conflicting loyalties. Wang said that the international title, In Love We Trust, reflects the film's optimism.

"I hope that when people are confronted with disaster, they will use love and rationality to deal with it," he said.

In Love We Trust made its world premiere in Berlin where last year's top Golden Bear award was won by another Chinese film, Tuya's Marriage. Wang's films have enjoyed substantial success on the international film circuit.

As well as his Silver Bear award for Beijing Bicycle, Wang's Shanghai Dreams, about a family sent from Shanghai to work in the countryside during the 1960s, garnered a Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

(China Daily 02/18/2008 page8)