The Story of Rose

Wong Chun Wah/Fu Ka Ming: Chow Yun-Fat
Rose Wong: Maggie Cheung
Alex: Roy Cheung

IMDb link: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0089576
other links:download The Last Rose in .mp3 format
other links: lyrics to the theme song
Version reviewed: DVD
Ratings:
DVD Audio: 8 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; DVD Video: 4 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Subtitles: 9 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Story: 8 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Performances: 9 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; CYF: 9 of 10

A film from 1985, when CYF was 30 years old and had proven his mettle as an actor in such quality films as Hong Kong 1941 from the previous year and 1981's The Story of Woo Viet. Though still struggling against being typed as the romantic soap-opera lover, his performance in this film shows his range not only of emotion but of style.

The Story of Rose can be compared to a beautiful painting on a scroll. As the scroll unfolds it can be appreciated in many ways, but ultimately calls for resources inside the viewer to give meaning to what is seen. On the surface this may seem to be a somewhat empty film, though beautiful. And on one level it is - deliberately so. It is a film about beauty and sorrow. Those are not concrete objects around which a "solid" film can be built, and the writer/director has spun a sparkling web around the concepts, as light and fragile as a puff of smoke.

And who better to portray the central beauty of the film than Maggie Cheung. As the Rose of the title, to the teenaged Rose she brings a vivacity, a quick and bright brittleness to the spoiled and selfish young woman. Living a life of early 1980's excess, without regard to the pain or broken hearts she leaves strewn about her, Rose indulges her every whim. Her caretaker and only living relative is her brother Chun Wah (Chow Yun-Fat), a young man who at first appears to be nothing more than an affected aesthete himself but reveals himself slowly as much more though his only interest in life is the happiness and safety of his sister. There is a puzzling lack of vitality about him, a resignation from anything other than the world as it concerns his sister; as the story unfolds it is delicately suggested that Chun Wah not only loves but is in love with his sister and that she in some kind returns this love. This taboo romantic involvement, as well as Chun Wah's role as Rose's surrogate parent, complicates a difficult relationship to the point of strangulation. As Rose's surrogate parent Chun Wah feels a sense of inadequacy and personal shame over some of his sister's callous romantic exploits and as her lover resignation and jealousy, but seems even with these powerful goads he seems inexplicably powerless to discipline her. The only exception to this is when she knowingly teases and breaks the heart of David Chow, the family stockbroker and a married man. Chun Wah is outraged, perhaps for the first time, as Rose thoughtlessly strings the man along, knowing that she may be the cause of a divorce but seeming not to care. Only when confronted with an ethical breach of this magnitude does Chun Wah seem to find the strength to go counter to his sister's wishes.

Discarding Chow and all of her other suitors upon a whim, Rose becomes infatuated with Chung Kwok Tung, a young architect who is engaged to a beautiful socialite. Ignoring propriety and cautions by her brother, Rose pursues the young man. Whereas before it had been Rose refusing calls and avoiding anxious lovers, now she is in turn waiting by the telephone for calls which do not come, and reduced to initiating all the contact between herself and her lover. Her time of bliss is short, as all too soon she learns that the marriage plans between Kwok Tung and his fiance have not changed. Rose has been unceremoniously dumped, and after her rage subsides she seems to feel that she is left with nothing. Fleeing to Paris to continue her studies, she is unable to recover from her harsh introduction to a world in which she does not always get what she wants; despite her brother's pleading to return to Hong Kong to be with him and resume their relationshp, she stays in Paris and enters into a loveless marriage with a shallow fellow student, and soon afterward bears him a child. Shortly after her daughter is born she receives a letter from her brother, confessing that he is dying and that she is is to take the assets from the estate and use them however she wishes, as long as it makes her happy. The final scenes of Chun Wah, gazing into some personal void with Rose's picture on the nightstand next to his bed, suggest that he is dying of his love for her as much as any medical malady.

The shock of her brother's death and the realization that his drinking and avoidance of any sort of life for himself had not been as much a character flaw as self-sacrifice, reduces Rose further to a beautiful shell empty of everything but care for her daughter and a deep and abiding sorrow that is still tinged with self-pity. Back in Hong Kong, now a divorcee, she hires an interior decorator named Fu Ka Fai to refurbish the house in which she grew up with Chun Wah; she gives Ka Fai instructions to re-do the entire house except for Chun Wah's studio, which has become a shrine to her memories of him and the days when she was carefree and happy.

By chance one afternoon Rose meets Ka Fai's brother Ka Ming (also played by Chow Yun-Fat). At first Rose seems to be drawn to Ka Ming by the fact that his appearance is almost identical to her dead brother, but soon she falls for him in his own right. With the energy and vitality that Chun Wah lacked, Ka Ming seems to be Chun Wah as he could have been. Though there is some unpleasantness between the two Fu brothers as they vie for Rose's affections, that is resolved and Ka Ming and Rose become lovers and agree to marry; but Ka Ming like Chun Wah is not destined to save Rose from what appears to be a fate of eternal loneliness, whether as a dose of instant karma or simply fate.

The final scene of the film - of Rose in white holding a blood-red telephone receiver, conveys the entire spirit of the film.

Written and directed by Yeung Fan, a former fashion and portrait photographer, it is obvious that this film was conceived in a static manner. Shots are usually motionless and staged, which takes a bit of getting used to. At first the direction seems merely clumsy, and I think some of the lack of fluidity can be rightly attributed to that. Yet again the analogy of the scroll comes into play, as the characters do not move in the great paintings unless a fair amount of imagination is used. Whether or not this is a successful technique for a modern film (even if about ancient sentiments and situations) really depends on the tastes of the viewer. I would personally have preferred a more natural style to compliment the natural talents of the cast, but even so there are some shots - especially of a despondent Rose succumbing to Kwok Tung one last time - which have the quality of a beautiful painting in a gilt frame.

Maggie Cheung is artful as the annoying teenaged Rose; it is easy to believe that this really is a bubble-headed little flirt instead of a character in a film. After the return to Hong Kong Cheung transforms Rose into a world-weary sophisticate, a woman perhaps a little too awed at her own tragedies. Cheung lets Rose grow, but not too far or too much. She is still Rose, though wiser.

Chow Yun-Fat in the dual role as Chun Wah and Ka Ming shows us the polar opposites of the two characters well. Chun Wah is a bloodless man who has chosen self-sacrifice perhaps as much out of exhaustion as ethics; Ka Ming is a full human being who loves and is torn between loyalty to his brother and passion for Rose. It makes for an interesting contrast.

Roy Cheung has a brief but amusing role as Alex, a momentary love of Rose's teenage life.

The Story of Rose has been described as sickly sweet and overly sentimental, but I think that critique does not take into account the basic Buddhist sensibilities of the film, that of the transitory nature of beauty and the emptiness of life without spirit. Yonfan's description of the film as "a Greek tragedy" is very apt, I think.

This film was released under a number of titles, including Rose and Lost Romance. The latest version, released by Yonfan Studio, carries the latter title. With a new soundtrack and fresh voice dubbing (Ada Choi takes the part of Rose and Tse Kwan Ho as Ka Ming/Chun Wah) the film is as crisp as technology could make the old print. The subtitles have been vastly improved over previous releases as well. All in all, this one is well worth owning even if Maggie Cheung's and Chow Yun-Fat's voices have been replaced.

The new DVD release can be purchased directly from Yonfan via his website at http://www.yonfanstudio.com.





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