''The Phantom Lover'' () is a 1995
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
musical romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
starring
Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actor. Throughout a 26-year career from 1977 until his death, Cheung released over 40 music albums and acted in 56 films. He was one of the most prominent ...
and
Jacklyn Wu
Jacklyn Wu Chien-lien (born 3 July 1968) is a Taiwanese actress and singer who began her career in Hong Kong.
She graduated from Taipei National University of Arts.
Career
In 1990, Wu's acting career began. For her first acting role, Johnn ...
. It was directed by
Ronny Yu
Ronny is a given name, sometimes a short form (hypocorism) of Ryan. It may refer to:
* Ronny (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer Ronny Heberson Furtado de Araújo
* Ronny (footballer, born 1991), Brazilian footballer Ronieri da Silva P ...
and is a remake of the 1937 film ''
Song at Midnight''. The film itself is a loose adaptation of the classic ''
Romeo and Juliet'' romance where
love between two passionate lovers were ultimately doomed when parental opposition was the major obstacle. The main theme of the film was, however, a strong adaptation of
Gaston Leroux
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux (6 May 186815 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel '' The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, ...
's 1910 novel ''
The Phantom of the Opera
''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...
''.
Plot
The film is loosely based on real life "Phantom Lover" Dan Cheung, known as such due to the ghostlike (that is, not real) nature of the women he romances. The film is set in China in the 1940s. Song Dan Ping (Leslie Cheung) was an ambitious theatre actor and owner who built his dream magnificent playhouse from where he entertained and dazzled the theatre-loving populace with his adaptation of classics such as
Romeo and Juliet and other tragic love stories.
His passionate and devoted performances drew the attention of To Wan-Yin (Jacqueline Wu), the beautiful daughter of a corrupt and despotic official. To Wan-Yin would sneak out of her house with her personal maid in the night to watch Dan Ping's play (he was acting as Romeo in Shakespeare's play--'Romeo and Juliet'). During the patriarchal era, romance between an actor (considered useless and without a bright future) and a rich man's daughter was definitely a taboo (it was an irony that the couple were 're-enacting' Romeo and Juliet in the movie). Hence after each performance, Dan Ping and Wan-Yin would have a rendezvous at the theatre and their love deepened to the extent that they vowed to run away from the city and to get married elsewhere.
However, Wan-Yin was betrothed to a man she did not love who was reputed to be cruel and sadistic; this persuaded her to throw caution to the wind and run away from home with Song. It also turned out that Wan-Yin's father arranged the marriage (as was the custom of China at that time) to benefit himself as he sought to become allies with another official of great influence, whose friendship would help to improve his social standing.
As fate dictated, the eloping couple was caught before the plan came to fruition and Wan-Yin's maid, who had assisted the eloping couple in their attempt to escape, was beaten until she was crippled. Meanwhile, Wan-Yin was locked in the house by her father to prevent her from eloping.
This did not end the couple's tragic fate. Wan-Yin's fiancé had arranged his men to harm Dan Ping. After disfiguring Dan Ping's face with burning acid, they set the theatre ablaze with Dan Ping and many other innocent people in it. After Wan-Yin learned of the fire and Dan Ping's disappearance, she resigned to fate and married her fiancé.
On her wedding night, Wan-Yin's husband found out that she was not a virgin (he did not 'see red' on their nuptial night). Wan-Yin was then abused and eventually drove out of the house and was forced to lead a wandering life with her crippled maid. Wan-Yin soon lost all her senses as her longing for Dan Ping drove her crazy.
Many years later, a group of performing arts students traveled from
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
to perform in the city where Song Dan Ping had performed, eager to adapt his exploits and to improvise on his legendary performances. They came to the theatre hall, with its outer foundations still intact but with the internal sections terribly destroyed, and made their temporary quarters there. Many people believed Song to have perished in the fire but he was indeed still living as the students made their home in his theatre.
Song, however, was badly scarred in the face and was never to reveal his once-handsome face to the outside world and earned the nickname 'The Phantom lover' by his once-loving audience. His personality was also changed as he was severely depressed and morose after the tragic incidents and had lived the life of a hermit ever since. When the students arrived at the theatre, he was slightly encouraged to reveal himself when one of the more talented students tried unsuccessfully to sing his ultimate love serenade whom he dedicated to Wan-Yin. Song later lashed out at the students' incompetence when he could no longer bear such disparaging performances of his efforts and decided to reveal himself and his scarred face to them.
When the officials heard that the students tried to popularise Song in their theatre performances and reenact his glorious days, they came to arrest the students. Little did they know their evil deeds were exposed to the public who came for the performances. One by one, the accomplices to the plot to burn down the theatre were forced to confess in detail, to their crimes.
Justice was finally achieved but only as a hollow victory on Song's part. In the closing moments, Song was seen holding his lover's hands. Wan-Yin had since become an invalid, and she had also become blind as a result of her ex-husband shooting her. She recognized Song, but lamented that she could not see him - a blessing for him, since she couldn't see how ugly his face had become. The two lovers finally departed the town in a coach, together at last. An epilogue reveals that Wan-Yin died a year later—probably due to the shooting injuries—and that Song never loved another woman in his lifetime.
Cast
*
Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actor. Throughout a 26-year career from 1977 until his death, Cheung released over 40 music albums and acted in 56 films. He was one of the most prominent ...
as Song Danping
*
Lei Huang
Huang Lei (Born December 6, 1971) is a Chinese actor, director, singer and screenwriter. He was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi, and now lives in Beijing.
Huang ranked 58th on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list in 2015, 29th in 2017, and 76th in 201 ...
as Wei Qing
*
Philip Kwok
Philip Kwok (; also known as Kuo Chui, Kwok Chui, Kwok Chun-Fung; born 21 October 1951) is a Hong Kong-based Taiwanese actor, martial artist, and stuntman. He rose to fame as a member of the Venom Mob, an ensemble of highly-talented marti ...
*
Fong Pao
Fong may refer to:
*the Bulu tribe of the Beti–Pahuin people of Cameroon
*various Chinese surnames
**the Hong Kong Government Cantonese romanization of the surname Fāng ()
**the Taishanese pronunciation of the Chinese surname Kuàng ()
**a M ...
as Zhao
*
Roy Szeto
Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin.
In Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman language, Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' ...
as Zhao Jum
*
Chien-lien Wu
Jacklyn Wu Chien-lien (born 3 July 1968) is a Taiwanese actress and singer who began her career in Hong Kong.
She graduated from Taipei National University of Arts.
Career
In 1990, Wu's acting career began. For her first acting role, Johnni ...
as Yun Yan
*
Liwen Yu as Agent in 1926
Critical reception
Andrew Chan of the
Film Critics Circle of Australia
The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) is an association of cinema critics and reviewers. It includes journalists in "media, television, major national and state papers, radio, national and state, online and freelance writers, Australian ...
writes, ""The Phantom Lover" could easily have been a cinematic classic, instead director Yu fails to focus the film on far more important things, namely the central doomed love affair and the rather lack of Cheung and Wu. "
Music
The film's theme song was composed and sung by
Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actor. Throughout a 26-year career from 1977 until his death, Cheung released over 40 music albums and acted in 56 films. He was one of the most prominent ...
entitled 夜半歌声 "The Phantom Lover" also featured in his album 宠爱 "Beloved". Another individual song popularised by this film is 一辈子失去了你 "Endless Embrace" also found in the same album. The film's Western-influenced score was composed by
Chris Babida.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phantom Lover, The
1995 films
Hong Kong films
Romantic period films
Films based on The Phantom of the Opera
Films based on Romeo and Juliet
Films directed by Ronny Yu
Horror film remakes