''Rouge'' (;
Jyutping: Jin1zi1 kau3) is a 1987
Hong Kong supernatural
Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
romantic-drama film, directed by
Stanley Kwan and starring
Anita Mui and
Leslie Cheung. The film is the adaptation of a novel with the same title by
Lilian Lee Lillian or Lilian can refer to:
People
* Lillian (name) or Lilian, a given name
Places
* Lilian, Iran, a village in Markazi Province, Iran In the United States
* Lillian, Alabama
* Lillian, West Virginia
* Lillian Township, Custer County, Ne ...
.
Plot
In 1987 Hong Kong, newspaperman Yuen and his girlfriend, Chor are drawn into a doomed 1930s romance when the ghost of
courtesan Fleur publishes an advertisement in the newspapers, looking for her lost lover Chan Chen-Pang. She has waited in the afterlife for Chan for 53 years and believes he has become lost.
Chan was the playboy son of a wealthy family, but longed to be an actor, who met and fell in love with talented, beautiful Fleur in one of
Hong Kong's
teahouses. Realising their romance would never be accepted, the couple committed suicide by opium overdose in order to be together in the afterlife.
Pragmatic Yuen and Chor become dazzled by the romance of Fleur's story and the ghost's glamorous beauty, but as their search for Chan reveals the truth - that Chan did not die with Fleur, frittered away his inheritance and now lives impoverished as a
movie extra
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera, or ballet production who appears in a nonspeaking or nonsinging (silent) capacity, usually in the background (for example, in an audience or busy stree ...
- they see the value of their own, honest relationship.
The title refers to a rouge case Chan gave to Fleur, which she returns to the now-elderly, guilt-wracked man, before leaving the living world.
Cast
*
Anita Mui as Fleur
*
Leslie Cheung as Chan Chen-Pang
*
Alex Man as Yuen
*
Irene Wan as Shu-Hsien
*
Emily Chu as Ah Chor
*
Kara Hui as Ghost
*
Lau Kar-wing as Movie Director
*
Patrick Tse as Brothel Patron
*
Ruby Wong
*
Jackie Chan Stunt Team – extra/stunts
Release
The film received a Region 1
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
home video release in 2022.
Awards
References
External links
*
*
HK cinemagic entry
{{Stanley Kwan
1988 films
1988 romantic drama films
1980s fantasy drama films
Hong Kong romantic drama films
Hong Kong fantasy drama films
1980s Cantonese-language films
Hong Kong romantic fantasy films
Hong Kong ghost films
Films about prostitution in Hong Kong
Films set in 1934
Films set in 1987
Best Film HKFA
Films directed by Stanley Kwan
Films about opium
1980s Hong Kong films