Center Stage (1991 film)


Center Stage, also known as Actress and Yuen Ling-yuk, is a 1991 Hong Kong film, directed by Stanley Kwan.
Maggie Cheung won Best Actress award at Berlin International Film Festival in 1992 for her delicate portraiture of silent film star Ruan Lingyu.

Plot

The film is based on a true story: the tragic life of China's first prima donna of the silver screen, Ruan Lingyu. This movie chronicles her rise to fame as a movie actress in Shanghai during the 1930s. Nicknamed the "Chinese Garbo," Ruan Lingyu began her acting career when she was 16 years old and committed suicide at age 24.
The film alternates between present scenes, re-creation scenes with Cheung, and extracts from Ruan's original films including her final two films The Goddess and New Women.

Cast

Two actors are the sons of their characters: Sun Dongguang is the son of director Sun Yu, and Zheng Dali is the son of actor Zheng Junli.

Music

The theme song "Zangxin" was composed by Taiwanese singer-songwriter Johnny Chen and recorded by Taiwanese singer Tracy Huang. It won Best Original Film Song at the 12th Hong Kong Film Awards.
The film also contains a scene in which Lianhua Film Company actors sang the "Dalu Ge" composed by Nie Er, which would become the theme song for Sun Yu's 1934 anti-Japanese film The Big Road.

Reception

Awards

Prominent American film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum picked the film as his favorite of the 1990s.