Two Stage Sisters is a 1964 Chinese drama film produced by
Shanghai Tianma Film Studio and directed by
Xie Jin, starring
Xie Fang
Xie Fang (; born November 1, 1935) is a Chinese actress and author. She is best known for her involvement with pre-Cultural Revolution cinema.
Life and career
Xie was born in Huangpi, Hubei, China and grew up in Shanghai. Both of her parents we ...
and
Cao Yindi. Made just before the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
, it tells the story of two female
Yue opera practitioners from the same troupe who end up taking very different paths in their lives: "one succumbs to bourgeois affluence and privilege, while the other finds inspiration and fulfilment in the social commitment associated with the May Fourth movement and the thought of Lu Xun.”
[Zheng, Aili. "The Realism of Compositional Documentary: Jia Zhangke's "I Wish I Knew"." Pacific Coast Philology 48, no. 1,2013, PP.88-108. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41932641. Accessed June 3, 2020.] The film documents their journey through abusive feudal conditions in the countryside before achieving success and prestige on the stage, meanwhile historically following Shanghai's experience under Japanese and KMT rule. This original screenplay depicts the socio-political changes encompassing China from 1935-1950 (just after the founding of
New China) through the theatrical world of
Shaoxing, and accordingly mixes both a Chinese aesthetic with Hollywood and socialist realist forms.
[Marchetti, Gina (1989). “''Two Stage Sisters'': The Blossoming of a Revolutionary Aesthetic” in ''Celluloid China: cinematic encounters with culture and society'' ed. by Harry H. Kuoshu, p33. - Also seen in Marchetti, Gina.]
Two Stage Sisters: The Blossoming of a Revolutionary Aesthetic
"
''Jump Cut
A jump cut is a cut (transition), cut in film editing in which a single continuous sequential shot of a subject is broken into two parts, with a piece of footage being removed in order to render the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera posit ...
''. March 1989. No. 34. p. 95-106. The main protagonist (Zhu Chunhua) is said to be based on the life of Xie Jin's friend and opera-veteran
Yuan Xuefen
Yuan Xuefen (26 March 1922 – 19 February 2011) was a noted performer in the Yue opera genre of Chinese opera. She has been called "arguably the most important actress in the recent history of Yueju haoxingopera". The only other artist to ...
.
Plot
In 1935 a runaway ''
tongyangxi
Tongyangxi (), also known as Shim-pua marriage in Min Nan dialects (; and in phonetic Hokkien transcription using Chinese characters: 新婦仔), was a tradition of arranged marriage dating back to pre-modern China, in which a family would adop ...
'', Zhu Chunhua, takes refuge at an itinerant Yue Opera troupe (Yangchun Theatre Troupe) performing at a
Shaoxing village. The head of the troupe, A’Xin, intends to send the girl away, but Yue Opera teacher Xing, seeing her potential, takes Chunhua in as a disciple and trains her. Chunhua signs a deal with the troupe and becomes the performing partner (in a
dan
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
role) to the teacher’s daughter Yuehong, the latter performing as a
xiaosheng.
A rich provincial landlord Ni invites Chunhua and Yuehong to sing at his house privately after the troupe reaches his province. He takes an interest in Yuehong; however, Yuehong and her father spurn his interest and as a result,
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
cops forcibly seize Yuehong one day during a performance. Chunhua is also arrested and tied to a pillar for days as “public humiliation”. The two are released after Xing and A’Xin send bribes to the KMT cops.
During the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
, Yuehong, Chunhua and the troupe go through hard times. In 1941, Teacher Xing dies of an illness, and troupe master A’Xin sells his two best performers to Tang, a
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
opera theater manager, on a three-year contract. Yuehong and Chunhua, now
sworn sisters, rapidly become Tang’s biggest stars, causing Tang to forsake his aging star and former lover, Shang Shuihua.
Three years elapse. Yuehong and Chunhua are renowned in the city. Chunhua remains down-to-earth but Yuehong grows steadily more materialistic. Sick of having to sing opera for life, Yuehong rashly agrees to Tang's proposal, but Chunhua distrusts Tang and refuses to support Yuehong’s marriage plans. Unbeknownst to Yuehong, Tang already has a wife, and is keeping her as a mistress.
One day faded ex-star Shang commits
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
by hanging herself back. Chunhua is incensed that Tang, her former lover, attempts to shirk his responsibilities by claiming he has nothing to do with her death. Through this episode, Chunhua gets to know a "radical" lady journalist Jiang Bo (a female communist reporter investigating the death),
[Jenkins, Steve. “Wutai Jiemei (Two Stage Sisters).” Monthly Film Bulletin, Jan. 1981, ] who advises her to become "progressive" to teach other Chinese to distinguish between truth and falsehood. She starts performing “progressive” operas like an adaptation of
Lu Xun
Zhou Shuren (25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), better known by his pen name Lu Xun (or Lu Sun; ; Wade–Giles: Lu Hsün), was a Chinese writer, essayist, poet, and literary critic. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. W ...
’s ‘’The New Year Sacrifice’’ in an attempt to politicize the work of the troupe, whose production consequently gets banned.
Chunhua’s works alert the KMT regime who gives Tang the task to ruin Chunhua's reputation. They get A’Xin to file a lawsuit against Chunhua and Manager Tang coerces Yuehong to testify against Chunhua, but at the crucial moment in the courtroom, Yuehong faints.
The film ends in 1950, one year after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Chunhua prepares to perform ''
The White-Haired Girl
''The White-Haired Girl'' () is a Chinese opera, ballet, (later adapted to Beijing Opera and a film) by Yan Jinxuan to a Chinese libretto by He Jingzhi and Ding Yi. The folklore of the white-haired girl is believed to have spread widely in the are ...
'' for country folks at
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
. Tang has run off to
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
with the KMT cohort and Yuehong is quietly abandoned at Shaoxing province. Although Yuehong witnesses Chunhua’s drama, she is too ashamed to face her sworn sister again. Near a quay later the day, however, the sisters manage a tearful reunion. On the boat the following day, Yuehong vows to learn her lesson and walk the "correct" path while Chunhua dedicates her entire life to performing revolutionary operas.
Cast
*
Xie Fang
Xie Fang (; born November 1, 1935) is a Chinese actress and author. She is best known for her involvement with pre-Cultural Revolution cinema.
Life and career
Xie was born in Huangpi, Hubei, China and grew up in Shanghai. Both of her parents we ...
''as'' Zhu Chunhua (竺春花), the main protagonist, a Yue Opera performer. Originally a ''
tongyangxi
Tongyangxi (), also known as Shim-pua marriage in Min Nan dialects (; and in phonetic Hokkien transcription using Chinese characters: 新婦仔), was a tradition of arranged marriage dating back to pre-modern China, in which a family would adop ...
'', she is adopted and later excelled in the
dan
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
role. She becomes a leftist and performs revolutionary operas.
*Cao Yindi ''as'' Xing Yuehong (邢月红), daughter of Teacher Xing. She plays the xiaosheng (male) parts. Enticed by Manager Tang to forsake her art, but is abused frequently until reunited with sworn sister, Chunhua.
*Feng Qi ''as'' Teacher Xing (邢师傅), father of Yuehong, a Yue Opera teacher.
*Gao Aisheng ''as'' Jiang Bo (江波), a "progressive"
leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
lady reporter
*Shen Fengjuan ''as'' Xiaoxiang (小香), a former troupe performer who plays supporting roles. Later reunited with Chunhua.
*Xu Caigen ''as'' Jinshui (金水), Xiaoxiang's husband and former troupe member.
*
Shangguan Yunzhu
Shangguan Yunzhu (; 2 March 1920 – 23 November 1968) was a Chinese actress active from the 1940s to the 1960s. She was considered one of the most talented and versatile actresses in China, and was named one of the 100 best actors of the 100 ...
''as'' Shang Shuihua (商水花), an aging former star in the Shanghai opera scene, a former mistress of Manager Tang who was jilted. She later hangs herself.
*Ma Ji ''as'' Qian Dakui (钱大奎), a Yue performer at the Shanghai theater
*Luo Jingyi ''as'' Yu Guiqing (俞桂卿), a Yue performer at the Shanghai theater
*Wu Bofang ''as'' Little Chunhua (小春花), a village tongyangxi who is Chunhua's namesake.
*
Li Wei ''as'' Manager Tang (唐经理), the unscrupulous manager and theater owner who keeps Shang and Yuehong as his mistresses.
*Deng Nan ''as'' A'xin the “Monk” (和尚阿鑫), the former troupe owner, a not-so-educated boor who will do anything for money.
*Shen Hao ''as'' Mrs Shen (沈家姆妈), a wealthy heiress who tries to adopt Chunhua and has illicit dealings with Manager Tang.
*Dong Lin ''as'' Third Master Ni (倪三老爷), a provincial landlord who tries to take Yuehong for sexual favors.
*Ding Ran ''as'' Commissioner Pan (潘委员), a
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
official intent on ruining Chunhua and her revolutionary opera troupe.
Background and cultural contexts
Cultural Revolution and censorship
Xia Yan, Vice Minister of Culture when the film was made, had made script corrections and encouraged Xie Jin to shoot the film.
Xia Yan Xia Yan is the name of:
*Xia Yan (Ming dynasty) (1482–1548), Ming dynasty politician
*Xia Yan (playwright)
Xia Yan (; 30 October 1900 – 6 February 1995) was a Chinese playwright and screenwriter, and China's Deputy Minister of Culture bet ...
was particularly disliked by
Mao
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ...
's wife,
Jiang Qing, and thus ''Two Stage Sisters'' is argued to have stood out for censure due to its association with
Yan
Yan may refer to:
Chinese states
* Yan (state) (11th century – 222 BC), a major state in northern China during the Zhou dynasty
* Yan (Han dynasty kingdom), first appearing in 206 BC
* Yan (Three Kingdoms kingdom), officially claimed inde ...
.
By the second part of the film, Xie is referring to when the protagonists encounter
communist ideals
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, which of course reflected to the audience the communist regime at hand. In Xie's depiction, the communist state becomes the inheritor of the leftist realist tradition, but Xie Jin knew the reality was otherwise. In other words, "drama and film could no longer remain truly realist under the communist regime."
[Wicks, J. (2009). Two Stage Brothers: Tracing a Common Heritage in Early Films by Xie Jin and Li Xing. Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, 21(1), 174-212.] Accordingly, instead of having the two stage sisters reunite in the "new society" which would allow them to perform Opera with full devotion and creative freedom as Xie Jin wanted, he was forced to work within the restraints of the censorships of the time and instead have Chunhua encourage Yuehong to become a revolutionary and to perform revolutionary-focussed plays.
Chinese Opera
''Two Stage Sisters'' demonstrates director Xie’s keen interest in traditional
Chinese opera
Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
art, which he had studied during the Japanese Occupation at the
Jiangen Drama Academy. He had then worked with well-known opera practitioners such as
Huang Zuoling and
Zhang Junxiang
Zhang Junxiang () (December 27, 1910Sources are unclear as to the exact year of birth, with numbers ranging anywhere from 1909 to 1911. Oddly enough Encyclopædia Britannica uses both 1910 and 1909 at various points. – November 14, 1996) w ...
.
Regarding the stage sisters themselves, some forms of
Chinese opera
Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
troupes during this time were made up of artists mostly in one gender only. This was due to the strict
fengjian
''Fēngjiàn'' ( zh, c=封建, l=enfeoffment and establishment) was a political ideology and governance system in ancient China, whose social structure formed a decentralized system of confederation-like government based on the ruling class consis ...
taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
which forbade men and women to appear together on stage as romantic leads. This norm is still the case in more traditional Chinese opera troupes performing in
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
or
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 Delt ...
. This phenomenon also explains why most ''
huangmeidiao'' movies feature women in male roles (e.g.
Ivy Ling Po).
Symbolism
Setting
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Shanghai once again fell under the control of the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
. The turmoil within the theatrical world symbolizes the bitter political struggles between the Communists and the Nationalists. Some of the changes in the theatrical world reflect the momentous changes that were transforming China at this time.
James Wicks stated that "The film's use of
setting
Setting may refer to:
* A location (geography) where something is set
* Set construction in theatrical scenery
* Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction
* Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...
is similar to pre-1949 Shanghai films: spatial geography becomes a powerful force in the construction of class identity, and the division between the rural and the urban takes on moral connotations."
Shanghai was often seen during the early days of the PRC as a symbol of the bourgeois decadence and as such, is seen as the ideal venue to depict the stage sisters’ struggles later in life.
Yuan Xuefen
Yuan Xuefen (26 March 1922 – 19 February 2011) was a noted performer in the Yue opera genre of Chinese opera. She has been called "arguably the most important actress in the recent history of Yueju haoxingopera". The only other artist to ...
(袁雪芬)
![Yuan Xuefen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Yuan_Xuefen.jpg)
Yuan Xuefen, a friend of director
Xie Jin, and one of the world's most notorious Shaoxing Opera experts is argued to be the "real life prototype" of Zhu Chunhua's character in the film. She was notably also a consultant on the film.
[Wang, Y. (2013). ''Remaking Chinese Cinema: Through the Prism of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Hollywood'' (Vol. 1). Hong Kong University Press.] After the film was banned, Yuan simultaneously received immense scrutiny and was targeted during the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
for her participation in the film's production. This was likely because "some of her undertakings inadvertently coincided with the interests of the left, such as her staging of ''Sister Xianglin'' and her refusal to be involved with the Yue Opera Workers’ Union, which was sanctioned by the Nationalist Social Affairs Bureau.”
[Jiang Jin. “The Opera as History.” Women Playing Men: Yue Opera and Social Change in Twentieth-Century Shanghai. University of Washington Press, 2009, 173-214. Project MUSE.] However, she claims she did not act out of political motivation until after liberation.
The film's other two characters Xing Yuehong and Shang Shuihua are also said to be loosely based on Ma Zhanghua (Yuan's real life stage sister) and Xiao Dangui ("Queen of Yueju"), who in reality suffered at the hands of their theatre bosses.
"All these actresses, including Yuan’s famous “ten sisters” of ''yueju'' in 1940s Shanghai alluded to in the film, were Shengxian orphans, child brides, or poverty-stricken country urchins sold to country troupes to seek a living in the theater."
Socio-Political commentary
This backstage melodrama is about a Shaoxing opera rising from an itinerant small-town theater to Shanghai celebrity, a metaphor for the changes sweeping across China in the decades before the founding of People’s Republic of China.
By creating a duality between the aesthetic of the film and that of the fictional theatre world'','' Xie Jin structured ''Two Stage Sisters'' to mimic a Chinese opera performance; "Its episodic narrative structure, for example, relies on often disjointed, autonomous sequences to give it a sweeping scope and an ability to deal with all aspects of society."
The different historical, political, and social events depicted onstage in the theatre thus are intended to act as a microcosm for Chinese society as itself. The depiction of an "actress
earing
In sailing, an earing is a small line (rope) used to fasten the corner of a sail to a spar or yard.
Background
In the Age of Sail, a position at the Weather Earing (the earing at the windward side of the ship) was considered a place of honor for ...
hardship and
esistingthe corruption of a rotten society,
ndcoming to understand that her performance on the small stage is related to changing the bigger stage, that of society itself," is deployed to convey national sentiments of the time of political consciousness.
Xie Jin uses Chunhua's suffering to represent his own opinions about the KMT's political reign at this time. Another example of using Chunhua to convey political commentary is at the end of the film when Chunhua's state drama troupe revisits the same town that used to be corrupt and a site where she was punished.
The film is filled with commentary on the change from the old to the new society through the personal dramas of the stage sisters which parallel the theatrical plays they act in order to represent the political changes occurring in China at this time.
The opera star
Shangguan Yunzhu
Shangguan Yunzhu (; 2 March 1920 – 23 November 1968) was a Chinese actress active from the 1940s to the 1960s. She was considered one of the most talented and versatile actresses in China, and was named one of the 100 best actors of the 100 ...
excellently plays the character of Shang Shuihua who commits suicide in the film. Four years after the film's production, due to the obscure circumstances stemming from the Cultural Revolution, actress
Shangguan Yunzhu
Shangguan Yunzhu (; 2 March 1920 – 23 November 1968) was a Chinese actress active from the 1940s to the 1960s. She was considered one of the most talented and versatile actresses in China, and was named one of the 100 best actors of the 100 ...
tragically died by suicide as well. This incident inadvertently ties Xie Jin's film deeper into exposing the hardships of the Cultural Revolution, as Shangguan's death was caused largely by the harsh persecution she faced for being deemed a
counter-revolutionary
A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...
.
Reception and criticism
''Two Stage Sisters'' was well received domestically when it was first screened, but the film was heavily attacked during the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
for portraying and condoning “
bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
” values. Since the late 1970s however, both the director and the film have been rehabilitated and the movie has made its round internationally. ''Two Stage Sisters'' won the
Sutherland Trophy of
British Film Institute Awards in the 24th (1980)
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...
, amongst other international prizes.
Critical Reviews
Today, ''Two Stage Sisters'' is considered by some to be Xie Jin’s masterpiece. Many critics find a
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
melodrama
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
flavor to the movie,
[Wutai Jiemei Film Reference review](_blank)
/ref>
/ref> while Gina Marchetti notes an indebtedness to Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
social realism. Summing up the film, Marchetti concludes:
:"…more than simply documenting aesthetic and social changes by incorporating these opera allusions, ''Two Stage Sisters'' chronicles its own roots, giving the viewer a rare glimpse of the history behind Chinese film aesthetics of the mid-1960s. It is as a document of this unique Chinese socialist cinematic sensibility that ''Two Stage Sisters'' is particularly important to an understanding of Chinese film culture as well as socialist cinema aesthetics in general."
Marchetti also asserts Xie Jin's emphasis on rooting this film in a historical period:
:"Although epic in scope like traditional opera, Two Stage Sisters also has the chamber quality of a literature influenced by Ibsen and Western critical realism. Jiang Bo cooks rice that boils over as she discusses sexism, class differences, and the theater with Chunhua. A montage sequence shows the daily routine of the traveling troupe from calisthenics for martial roles to memorizing lines while walking from town to town. This attention to what may appear to be nearly irrelevant detail creates a sense of the particularity of the social fabric, a concrete feeling for the historical period, as it does in the best of critical realism globally."
Gilbert Adair gave the film a glowing review on ''Time Out
Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to:
Time
* Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team
* Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken
* Timeout (computing), an enginee ...
'' magazine:
:"The performances are terrific, but what really distinguishes this amazing hybrid (in Western terms, that is) is the director's fluid and elegant style. Colour, composition, pace, and above all, camera movement, create an exhilarating spectacle that is never thematically shallow. Imagine Sirk
Sirk ( hu, Szirk) is a village and municipality in Revúca District in the Banská Bystrica Region of Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in ...
's colours and emotional sense, Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
or Minnelli Minnelli (also spelled Minelli) is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Minelli, born Luisa Ionela Luca, Romanian singer, songwriter and lyricist.
* Alessandro Minelli - multiple people
* Liza Minnelli, American actress, ...
's craning camera shots, allied to a politically perceptive treatment, and you're half way to imagining this film."
Mike Hale, writing on the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', was receptive and applauds Xie Jin for his resourcefulness:
:''"Two Stage Sisters'' … is unexpectedly fluid and subtle, with emotions that ring true. It’s also a sweeping, ambitious narrative that moves from the provinces to the theater district of Shanghai and back again. Some cramped staging may reflect a lack of resources, but Mr. Xie’s technical assurance and the overall level of the acting are the equal of at least a modest Hollywood drama of the 1950s or ’60s."
J. Hoberman of ''The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' said that "as one sister moves left and the other right, the parallels with Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige (; born 12 August 1952) is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema.Berry, Michael (2002). "Chen Kaige: Historical Revolution and Cinematic Rebellion" in Speaking in Images: Interviews wit ...
’s 1992 '' Farewell My Concubine'' are obvious."
Steve Jenkins on behalf of ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' commends Xie Jin's genre-defying work:
:''"...''while ''Two Stage Sisters'' successfully embraces many of the staple elements of Western melodrama (central female characters, the corrupting influence of the city as opposed to the country, the courtroom climax), it also demands, through its rejection of transcendence, a redefinition of genre''."
"''Stage Sisters'' remains a remarkable historical document to this day because it encapsulates a compelling effort to satisfy the contradictory requirements of state propaganda, classical Hollywood narrative continuity, and Soviet socialist realism."
He also voices public opinion over the film's controversial portrayal of historic events:
:"Many articles in The ''People's Daily
The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...
'' condemned the film because of its sympathetic portrayals of the bourgeoisie and its incongruence with Mao's expectations for art. Specifically, Xie Jin was accused of employing the critical realist tradition of the 1930s rather than using the state-approved style of "revolutionary realism and revolutionary romanticism."" as congruent with Dong's (1966) argument."
4K Restoration in 2014
In 2014, the film underwent a six-month 4K restoration at L'Immagine Ritrovata Film Restoration Laboratory in Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. The restored film opened the 2014 Shanghai International Film Festival at the city's Daguangming Grand Theatre, with the lead actresses in attendance.
Notes
External links
*
*
''Two Stage Sisters''
at the Chinese Movie Database
{{Xie Jin
1964 films
Chinese drama films
1960s Mandarin-language films
Films directed by Xie Jin
Films set in Shanghai
Films about actors
Films set in 1935
Films set in 1950
Films about Chinese opera
Yue opera