Centre Stage

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For the American ballet film, see Center Stage.

Centre Stage

Directed by	Stanley Kwan
Written by	Peggy Chiu
Starring	Maggie Cheung Carina Lau Tony Leung Ka Fai
Release date(s)	1992
Running time	167 min
Language	Mandarin Cantonese Shanghainese
IMDb profile

Centre Stage (Simplified Chinese: 阮玲玉; pinyin: ruǎn líng yù), also known as Actress and Yuen Ling-yuk^[1], is a 1992 Hong Kong movie, directed by Stanley Kwan.

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 chronics her rise to fame as a movie actress in Shanghai during the 1930s. Actress Maggie Cheung portrayed Ruan in this movie.

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 (production talks between director Stanley Kwan, Maggie Cheung and Carina Lau, interviews of witnesses who knew Ruan), re-creation scenes with Maggie Cheung (as Ruan, acting inside this movie), and extracts from Ruan's original films including her final two films The Goddess and New Women.

Maggie Chueng, lead actress of Song of the Exile (1990) and Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996), won best actress for her portrayal in this movie at the 1992 Berlin International Film Festival and 1992 Hong Kong Film Awards.

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

[edit] Trivia

In one scene, director Stanley Kwan is shown instructing Maggie Cheung how to cry on a hospital bed. Rumour has it that Maggie Cheung's tears and emotion were real due to her troubled relationship with Derek Yee at the time. Neither Maggie Cheung nor Stanley Kwan has response to this rumour. The rumour, however, generated parallel comparison of Cheung's and Ruan's private life.