阮玲玉
Drama
Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin, English
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Stanley Kwan
Starring: Maggie Cheung, Chin Han, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Lawrence Ng
Distributor: Fortune Star Media
Ruan Lingyu was an icon of Chinese cinema in the 1930‘s. Her unmatched charisma and expressive acting style made her one of the first true stars of Chinese cinema. And her life story is the focus of Stanley Kwan’s award-winning film Center Stage. But do not expect a conventional biopic. Instead of a linear narrative, the film brings an original, conscious, and extremely sensitive dialogue with her legacy – brought on several levels.
Director Stanley Kwan combines archival footage, recollections of witnesses, and re-created scenes to make a vivid portrait of a woman whose life gradually began to resemble the melodramas in which she once starred. Purposeful narrative shifts break with the conventions of biographies, constantly surprise viewers and provide new context. Maggie Cheung holds an acting dialogue with Ruan Lingyu, her extraordinary performance going beyond simply imitating. She does not aim to capture the appearance or mannerisms of her predecessor but instead revives her presence through subtle gestures and magnetic charisma. At the same time, she implicitly comments on the acting career of Maggie Cheung herself, one of the biggest stars of Hong Kong cinema.
The combination of styles, colours, formats, and genres creates a masterpiece that goes far beyond what we normally associate with the term ‘biopic’. Stanley Kwan’s creative team, led by Maggie Cheung, has filmed a thorough polemic with the star image of the first Chinese film icon, but at the same time, an empathetic portrait of Ruan Lingyu, the woman who was hiding behind all that sparkle.
