Fatal Beauty

Diau Charn

Dir: Li Han-hsiang
Scr: Kao Li
Prod Co: Shaw & Sons
Co-starring: Chao Lei, Lo Wei, Yang Zhiqing
1958 | Colour | DCP | Mandarin | Chi & Eng Subtitles | 89min

Based on a story from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the film follows the orphan Diaochan (Lin Dai), who agrees to execute a plan cooked up by minister Wang Yun (Yang Zhiqing), using her beauty and wits to throw a wrench onto the father-son-like relationship between villainous minister Dong Zhuo (Lo Wei) and Lü Bu (Chao Lei). Though the film tells a familiar story, Lin Da impresses with a multi-faceted performance as the passionately patriotic heroine. While exuding an alluring charm in front of Dong Zhuo, she puts on a sad pout in front of Lü Bu. When Wang Yun orders her to assassinate Lü Bu in the end, Lin does a magnificent job portraying Diaochan’s emotionally complex dilemma between her love of country and her love for Lü Bu. Not only did director Li Han-hsiang give Diaochan and Lü Bu a happy ending, his use of Huangmei opera to push the story forward and grand palace scenes helped the film become a box office hit, sparking a new trend of Huangmei opera films. This film won five awards at the 5th Asian Film Festival, including Best Actress (Lin Dai), Best Director (Li Han-hsiang), Best Screenplay (Kao Li), Best Film Editing (Keung Hing-lung) and Best Music (Wang Shun).

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