Troubled Laughter

The film stars Li Zhiyu as Fu Bin, a powerless newspaper writer who struggles with his conscience during an age of pervasive dishonesty and immorality from the top on down. The ethical and professional conflicts eventually threaten both Fu Bin's work and family relationships, while his mental struggle breaks through to the film’s discursive level. It was screened out of competition at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival.

Troubled Laughter
DVD cover
Traditional Chinese	苦惱人的笑
Simplified Chinese	苦恼人的笑
Hanyu Pinyin	Kǔnǎo Rén de Xiào
Directed by	Yang Yanjin Deng Yimin
Written by	Yang Yanjin Xue Jing
Produced by	Xu Songlin
Starring	Li Zhiyu Pan Hong Shi Jiufeng
Cinematography	Ying Fukang Zheng Hong
Edited by	Lan Weijie
Music by	Xu Jingxin
Production company	Shanghai Film Studio
Release date	1979 (1979)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	China
Language	Mandarin

• Li Zhiyu as Fu Bin, a writer working for the Haicheng Daily
• Pan Hong as Fu Bin's devoted wife, a schoolteacher
• Gong Fei as Fu Bin's young daughter
• Shi Jiufeng as Fu Bin's colleague and old acquaintance
• Cheng Zhi as Haicheng Daily's chief editor, an ass-kisser
• Yuan Yue as Song Abao, Haicheng's Communist Party secretary, a scheming lowlife
• Bai Mu as disgraced professor of surgery
• Qiao Qi as Fu Bin's former professor in journalism
• Qin Yi as the wife of Fu Bin's former professor, a former actress
• Fu Hengzhi as failing medical student-turned-heartless hospital leader
• Qiu Shisui as a sympathizing doctor
• Hong Zhaosen as secretary