Rouge (1987)

Fleur is the blue angel in one of Hong Kong's "flower houses" - bordellos and night clubs of the 1930's. A detached and beautiful performer, she falls in love with Twelfth Master Chan, heir... See full summary »

Director:

Stanley Kwan

Writers:

Kang Chien Chiu (as Tai An-Ping Chiu), Pik Wah Lee (novel) (as Lillian Lee)

Stars:

Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Alex Man

13 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Anita Mui	...	Fleur
Leslie Cheung	...	Chan Chen-Pang
Alex Man	...	Yuen-Ting
Emily Chu	...	Ah Chor
Irene Wan	...	Shu-Hsien
Sin Hung Tam	...	Chen-Pang's Mother
Yue Wong	...	Ho Hsi
Chia Yung Liu	...	Movie Director
Kara Wai	...	Actress Portraying Ghost
Yin Tse	...	Brothel Patron
Pa-Ching Huang	...	Fortune Teller
Ruby Wong	...	Courtesan
Ching Wai	...	Boss of Antique Shop

Storyline

Fleur is the blue angel in one of Hong Kong's "flower houses" - bordellos and night clubs of the 1930's. A detached and beautiful performer, she falls in love with Twelfth Master Chan, heir to a chain of pharmacies. They agree to a suicide pact. Jump ahead 50 years to modern Hong Kong: Fleur's ghost appears in Yuen's newspaper office, wanting to place an ad to find Chan, who never arrived in the afterlife. Yuen, and his equally bewildered girl friend, An Chor, are captivated by Fleur and her story.

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Plot Keywords:

f rated | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Music | Mystery | Romance

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Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Release Date:

7 January 1988 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Rouge

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golden Harvest Company, Golden Way Films Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is first and only collaboration between Jackie Chan and Leslie Cheung.

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Connections

Featured in Century of Cinema: Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema (1998)

User Reviews

Haunting and hypnotic, a beautifully understated classic

Sometimes films just take your breath away. This is one of them, for me. I first saw it when it aired on Channel 4 in the UK in the early 90's and then recently managed to pick up a copy on video. After all these years, it's lost none of the impact it had on me when I first saw it.

"Rouge" tells the story of two doomed lovers in the early 1930's. He is a high class gentleman, Twelfth Master Chan Chen-Pang, the heir to three successful medicine stores. She is Fleur, a famous courtesan. His parents disapprove of both his choice of lover and also his passion for the Cantonese opera. They are horrified when he decides to give up the shopkeeping business in favour of becoming an actor and immediately order him to return to the family. So he and Fleur take their own lives, vowing to meet up in the afterlife and be together forever. Fifty years later, her ghost returns to the world of the living, still searching for her beloved Twelfth Master.

On the surface, it's a traditional Chinese romantic ghost story but there's far more lurking underneath. Essentially "Rouge" is a lament on a bygone age of pre-Westernised China, a yearning for a return to the old values, traditions and passions that are now lost beneath the neon lights and soulless rush of modern-day Hong Kong. It's also a lonesome mediation on the nature of trust and the complexity of human relationships with a tragic punchline and a strong sense of alienation running throughout.

Deeply melancholy, loaded with ravishingly beautiful imagery and haunting performances from the two gifted leads (Anita Mui and the ever-mesmerising Lesley Cheung), "Rouge" is an unforgettable, understated and utterly unique piece of filmmaking. A very strange, subtle blend of genres that floats around the mind long after the end credits have finished rolling. 9 out of 10.