Desire, delusion and danger drive No Other Love

A decade after production wrapped, the long-awaited romantic suspense crime film No Other Love has finally arrived in domestic theaters, taking audiences on a journey into the extremes of human nature.

Adapted from the German novel Der Hahn ist tot (The Rooster Is Dead), the story follows Zhi Ning, a withdrawn researcher at an agricultural science institute who has faced repeated disappointments in love. At a literary lecture, she falls in love at first sight with a writer and becomes obsessively fixated, eventually stalking him. When the writer invites her on a trip, Zhi believes love has finally found her — only to find the journey shadowed by a series of mysterious deaths, as everyone's fate begins to unravel.

Directed by female filmmaker Yuan Mei, who also serves as chief producer, the film features a stellar cast led by actress Yuan Quan and actor Geng Le, with actresses Ning Jing, Yu Feihong and Qi Xi in supporting roles.

Speaking at the film's Beijing premiere earlier this month, screenwriter Li Qiang said the story carries a hidden message: love can be like the sting of a bee. "Bees do not sting lightly, but once they do, their barbed sting harms others and costs them their own lives — just as sweetness always comes at a price. That is the metaphor of love," he said.

Actress Yuan, who plays Zhi, said she deeply empathized with the character's emotional core. "Zhi's feelings for the writer are not purely love, but a form of emotional projection. His appearance is like a spring in the desert, flowing into her once barren and lonely life, carrying all her fantasies and confusion about love and life," she said.