Rouge

This is a film which is enthralling and gripping from beginning to end. It centers around two lovers from the "wrong sides of the tracks." Leslie Cheung is in love with a high class whore played exquisetely by Anita Mui (as Fleur - or "Flower" in English). Since society was against them being together, Anita poisoned them both but only she died. Her ghost spends the rest of the film (involved with a touching and oftimes comedic sidestory about a reporter and his girlfriend) in search of him. It is beautifully shot throughout. It really reminds one of the "one who got away" so to speak. A definite recommendation.

This is one of the best films I've seen. As far as ghost stories go, this is one of the scariest for me. It's not scary by way Stir of Echoes or Gothika, but it will give you chills like nothing before. Sure, angry ghosts are scary, but a heartbroken ghost is scarier. She could appear to your left right now and ask for your help. Isn't THAT scary?

If you love ghost stories, love stories, Hong Kong and Chinese music, this movie has all that. It was a pleasant surprise to find a film that told a familiar story so beautifully it becomes unique.

Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui were perfect for their roles. Watch out for the scene where Leslie wears Peking Opera makeup. Fans of "Farewell, My Concubine" will surely love the foreshadowing of Leslie's future internationally-acclaimed performance.

Unhappy together. An exquisite, enduringly resonant elegy for both lost love and vanishing history, Rouge is made all the more surreal thanks to its transcendently melancholy mood that's as illusory as time itself. One that feels all the more resonant and devastating due to real life coming to echo the film, with this already sombre love story made all the more tragic by the untimely deaths of its two leads. It's a subtle exploration of the differences between its periods, achieved through simple juxtaposition, particularly in terms of contrasting societal attitudes toward love and marriage. Director Stanley Kwan renders the two time periods in radically different ways, the thirties in florid images and modern times in muted tones; the lurid dramas of history functioning as stimulants for neutered passions of what was modern society, a journey to a time seemingly glamorous, yet everything always has a spell that can never be broken. But it's the lead performers that simply dominate and overshadow the plot from beginning to end. Cheung brings an enormous sensitivity and vulnerability to his role. He is impulsive and romantic, but also weak-minded and cowardly. Mui is simply radiant as Fleur. She has such a careful and precise control over her presence and presentation throughout the film. Above all, she gives her character a tremendous dignity. Does love really last forever? Infused with both a sense of nostalgia and, ultimately, an interrogation of that nostalgia, by Rouge's end, the sadness over the loss of the past seems to fade away. Ending on a forward-looking basis: the past has brought pain and regret, and the future is free of it, inviting its audience, in the end, things are probably going to be better in the years to come than the ones that have passed.

This is a ghost story starring Anita Mui as Fleur, who falls in love with Chan Chen-Pang (Leslie Cheung), heir to a chain of pharmacies. After agreeing to a suicide pact, Fleur's ghost appears in modern day Hong Kong, in search of her lost love.

This movie captures a mysterious and eerie atmosphere, spelling out the tragic yet hopeful ghost of Fleur, and the suspenseful search of the missing Pang. It keeps you on your toes as you wonder if the two kinship spirits will reunite, and the haunting flavor of the ghostly plot will keep you captivated. The cinematography captures the beauty of 1930s Hong Kong and the visual effects were great in capturing the ghostly atmosphere. The acting, though, was a little wooden and the story was a little too dreary and depressing - a lack of action and spirit.

Overall, though, it's a pretty good ghost movie and stands out in Hong Kong Cinema.

Grade B-

Anita and Leslie are pefect match of their roles in the movie. No doubt they can act so vividly the role in the movie. They both possess the aura of the beginning of twentieth century. The two superstars collaberated to create a melodrama that hits your heart so painfully, particularly when both are not with us now. There are so many flowers in front of the Mandarin Hotel from fans all over the world in April first. They are both living in the bottom of our hearts.

Lets hope that both enjoy singing together in another world.