The Butterfly Lovers

Director: Sang Hu, Huang Sha
Screenplay: Xu Jin, Sang Hu
Cast: Yuan Xuefen, Fan Ruijuan
1954 | Colour | DCP | Shaanxi dialect | Chi Subtitles | 112min | Shaoxing Opera

Billed as "China's first-ever full-colour operatic art film", The Butterfly Lovers stars Yuan Xuefen and Fan Ruijuan, the former a towering figure who played a pivotal role in putting Shaoxing opera, an unpolished regional genre to begin with, on a pedestal. Their vocal styles, marked by a distinct Jiangnan flavour, had gained a huge following by the time the film was released. From the lovers' encounter to their deaths to eventual reunion in the heavens, their winding tale has moved audiences across generations with a soft, feminine touch unique to Shaoxing opera. The film, as the oriental version of Romeo and Juliet, travelled with Premier Zhou Enlai on an overseas expedition. Also the first digitally restored classic released by the China Film Archive in DVD.

Print courtesy of the China Film Archive

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