100 of 1001 Movies: Center Stage (1992)

This is quite a unique movie within a movie directed by Stanley Kwan. It might take a specific interest in the actress, Ruan Lingyu though to fully gain an interest in it as it chronicles her life as an actress mixing interviews with those that knew her, a director making a film about her, and old clips of her movies. For the viewer this can seem scrambled, but I've never watched anything else done like this before, so it's a very creative approach in trying to do a documentary style movie.

Ruan Lingyu is notably one of the staples of Chinese cinema. She is one of the faces that still plays a prominent influence today. In this movie her life is featured as it unravels after she begins living with a man, Tang Jishan, a tea tycoon. She is still married when doing this, and so is he. This brings a lawsuit from her husband, Zhang Damin, who she met when her family worked for his when she was young. The tabloids also latched on to this, and while still trying to maintain her very active career she is ripped into by gossip. Not only that, but Shanghai, where was from was facing a lot scrutiny during the 1930s as well.


The movie isn't always interesting, but it is well done. Personally, a movie done specifically about her life, but not done in the way this one was would be interesting to see. Just a movie that plays out with an actress being her the whole way through as if it is actually happening. Kwan must have thought that was way over done because he sets this one up with an actress who is pretending that she is making a movie about Ruan. Along with that we have older clips that show Ruan in her actual roles. This part was an interesting way to incorporate making the film feel more real.

Maggie Cheung was also a great lead. She knew how to get certain emotions, and seemed to really embody the role given to her. The ending when the suicide happens is very emotionally charged, and has almost a 15 minute build up. Her acting just felt very real. I wish that she would have mixed up her outfits a bit more. When researching online I saw that Ruan didn't only wear this type of clothing, but also had many outfits she wore, and I think had those been mixed in that it would have given her more personality.

There is also background music that plays variously throughout that has sort of a higher tone, and sung in one of the languages used in the movie. It's very eerie, and adds to the vibe of the movie, which becomes darker as it goes. It may start off a bit slow, but the movie does build to becoming more interesting as it nears the end because you do grow with the characters. You see how Ruan could have really went on to be an influence for women had she not given over to the sadness that being prize of two men brought her. One man continued to haunt her with lawsuits while the other was abusive toward her.

Center Stage is not only an interesting look at the life of a woman from the 1930s who got China's attention with her movies, but it also look at the history of film in another culture. The real life clips woven in make it a lot more interesting, and Kwan knows how to set up an atmosphere to make it interesting to watch, and gets you invested as well.

Rating 6 of 10.