After a lengthy battle spanning nearly two years the controversial Chinese film Lost in Beijing  had its screening license revoked by the state ministry known as the SARFT. In addition to the ban the ministry announced it would carry out punishment against the film’s producers.

Plot summary from Danwei:

The film presents a bleak picture of people motivated by sex and money. When Liu Pingguo (played by Fan Bingbing), a masseuse in an upscale club, is raped by her boss (Tony Leung Ka-Fai), her husband An Kun (Tong Dawei), a window-washer, decides that this is a chance to make some money. He only succeeds at blackmail when it turns out that Pingguo is pregnant and the boss wants a child: the two families strike a deal that depends on the paternity of the child.

Lost in Beijing was nominated for the prestigious Silver Bear award at the 57th Berlin Film Festival and was also given an Honorable Mention for its screenplay at last year’s TriBeCa Film Festival in New York City.

To the surprise of many a heavily edited version of the film was released in China last year November. The $1.2 million production, which was released in theaters on Nov. 30, had made more than $1.8 million at the Chinese box office. The film opens in America on Jan. 25 and in Russia on Feb. 16.

But as deleted scenes and uncut pirated versions — which the ministry believes were distributed by people associated with the film — became available, the ministry made moves to ban the film.

Like the version of Lust, Caution that was tailored for the mainland, Lost in Beijing was edited to be healthier and more positive. Prostitution was eliminated (the boss’s trysts as well as the fate of a masseuse who is fired early in the film) and an affair that the boss’s wife carries on with An Kun out of spite was excised completely. Characters were tweaked to make them more sympathetic while others were given their just deserts. And a scene of Pingguo accepting cash from the boss was deleted to allow her to leave with her “self respect” intact.

A review of the film published in Variety can be found here.