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This film is a compilation of conversations between the director and actors, old film footage of Ruan Lingyu, Maggie Cheung playing the role of Ruan Lingyu, footage of interviews between directors and actors in the 1930s, comparisons between old and new, and numerous layers of dialogue. The directing technique is unique and effective. Some people, such as Ruan Lingyu, were born to be in the limelight, to be at center stage. Fate would guide them that way, and they can never escape from it. Maggie Cheung and Ruan Lingyu were both modern women ahead of their time, and both faced bottlenecks in their acting careers and a rocky love life. Around the time Cheung made this film, her love letters were made public, so she intimately understood the phrase ‘rumours are frightening'. In playing an actress from the 1930s, it is unimportant if she physically resembled Ruan. She had already become one with Ruan's spirit, soundlessly but powerfully protesting against the hyper-critical gossip from the masses. Cheung won three Best Actress awards with this film, including the Berlin International Film Festival's Silver Bear.

# Post-screening talk with Alfred Ng

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