Rouge (Leslie Cheung)

Show & Culture

Chan Chen-pang, a young heir in the 1930s, defies conventions for the love of a courtesan. His character, both passionate and tragic, is at the heart of a love story that seems to defy time. Between romance, memory, and nostalgia, the film explores the traces left by feelings across generations. Directed by Stanley Kwan, a major figure in Hong Kong cinema, Rouge is considered one of his most elegant and moving masterpieces. "The challenge faced by the Hong Kong New Wave in the 1980s–90s is how to keep pace with a subject always on the verge of disappearing. Rouge perfectly illustrates this notion: everything in the film deals with a past erased by different occupations – British, Japanese, and that of Imperial China – and those yet to come." (Culturopoing.com) "Rouge invites us to a poetic meditation on absolute love, memory as well as betrayal and revenge. Anita Mui received several well-deserved awards for her nuanced interpretation of an uncompromising woman, a passionate lover haunted by the memory of the man she loved and wants to find again. Leslie Cheung is equally touching as a perhaps more fragile and irresolute man than the woman he loves. Visually very successful and moving, Rouge is a delicate and precious fantastical melodrama." (Le Bleu du miroir)