 The version shown at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival was three hours long.This was a working version that was later cut to 139 minutes with director Jiang Wen's full participation in order to enhance the film's commercial prospects and to tighten the storyline, which he did not have time to do before the Cannes premier.The film was booked for showing on 3 November 2014 at the Cornerhouse Manchester (UK) as part of Asia Triennial Manchester 14, and a 161-minute version arrived, somewhat to the organisers' surprise.