| Center Stage | |
| Producer: | Willie Chan Tsui Siu-Ming |
| Starring: | Maggie Cheung Tony Leung Ka-Fai Carina Lau |
| Director: | Stanley Kwan |
| Cinematography: | Poon Hang-Sang |
| Studio: | Golden Way Films Ltd. |
| Distributor: | Golden Harvest Media Asia Group |
| Runtime: | 146 minutes 154 minutes 126 minutes |
| Country: | Hong Kong |
| Language: | Cantonese Mandarin Shanghainese English |
Center Stage, also known as Actress and Yuen Ling-yuk,[1] is a 1991 Hong Kong biographical drama film directed by Stanley Kwan. It follows the life and career of silent film actress Ruan Lingyu (1910–1935), portrayed by Maggie Cheung.
Cheung won Best Actress award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1992 for performance.
The film is based on a true story: the tragic life of China's first prima donna of the silver screen, Ruan Lingyu. This movie chronicles her rise to fame as a movie actress in Shanghai during the 1930s. Nicknamed the "Chinese Garbo," Ruan Lingyu began her acting career when she was 16 and committed suicide at 24.
The film alternates between present scenes (production talks between director Kwan, Cheung, and co-star Carina Lau, interviews of witnesses who knew Ruan), re-creation scenes with Cheung (as Ruan, acting inside this movie), and extracts from Ruan's original films including her final two films The Goddess (1934) and New Women (1935).
Two actors are the sons of their characters: Sun Dongguang is the son of director Sun Yu, and Zheng Dali is the son of actor Zheng Junli.
The theme song "Zangxin" (; "Burying the Heart") was composed by Taiwanese singer-songwriter Johnny Chen and recorded by Taiwanese singer Tracy Huang. It won Best Original Film Song at the 12th Hong Kong Film Awards.
The film also contains a scene in which Lianhua Film Company actors sang the "Dalu Ge" (; "The Big Road Song") composed by Nie Er, which would become the theme song for Sun Yu's 1934 anti-Japanese film The Big Road.
Prominent American film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum picked the film as one of his favorites of the 1990s.[4] [5]