一生一世 AKA But Always

5.3/10
Romance
2014
1h 46m
PG-13

a Chinese romantic drama starring Nicholas Tse and Gao Yuanyuan, portraying a lifelong love shaped by separation, time, and emotional endurance. A poetic story of destiny, reunion, and unwavering devotion across decades.

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Genres

Romance Drama

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But Always (一生一世, 2014) unfolds like a quiet memory that refuses to fade, telling a lifelong love story shaped by timing, separation, and the fragile courage it takes to choose one person again and again. The film follows Zhao Yongqing and An Ran, two young people whose paths first cross in the early 1980s when they are students in Beijing, living in a time defined by constraint, tradition, and emotional restraint. Their bond forms slowly, built on shared glances, unspoken understanding, and a mutual sense that something meaningful is growing between them even if neither has the language or freedom to name it. Circumstances intervene before love can fully bloom, and life pulls them apart, sending Yongqing abroad to pursue education and opportunity while An Ran remains behind, rooted in a reality shaped by family expectations and social boundaries. The separation is not dramatic but deeply human, marked by letters left unread, promises left unfinished, and the quiet ache of what might have been.

Years pass, and the world changes. China opens, cities expand, and time reshapes both characters into adults carrying emotional histories they never resolved. When Yongqing returns years later, success etched into his life but loneliness written into his eyes, fate reunites him with An Ran in a way that feels both miraculous and cruel. They are no longer the same people they once were; life has marked them with compromises, regrets, and relationships that did not fully satisfy the heart. Yet the connection between them remains unmistakable, resurfacing with a depth that feels earned rather than nostalgic. Their reunion is tender, restrained, and filled with hesitation, as both struggle with the fear of reopening wounds they once survived by closing. The film lingers in moments of silence, in shared meals, in glances held a second too long, allowing the audience to feel the weight of time pressing gently but firmly on every decision.

As their relationship rekindles, But Always explores love not as passion alone but as endurance — the willingness to wait, forgive, and choose again despite uncertainty. The story moves through decades, showing how devotion matures when shaped by patience and loss rather than instant fulfillment. Yongqing and An Ran confront the truth that love is not diminished by distance or years, but tested by them. Their bond becomes a testament to emotional constancy in a world of change, emphasizing that true connection does not demand perfection, only sincerity and courage. In its final movements, the film resolves not with dramatic declarations but with quiet affirmation, suggesting that a lifetime of love is not defined by uninterrupted presence but by the ability to return, to recognize one another, and to stay. But Always is a deeply romantic and reflective Chinese drama that celebrates enduring love, memory, and the belief that some relationships are written not in moments, but across an entire life.