chow yun-fat ©P¼íµo





Love In A Fallen City
no alternate titles

year of release: 1984

Principal cast.

Fan:	Chow Yun-Fat
Liu Hsu:	Cora Miao
Princess Saheiyini:	Jovy Coudrey

Directed by: Ann Hui On-Wah
Additional info.

IMDb link:	http://us.imdb.com/Title?0087959
other links:	Japanese movie poster image

version reviewed: Pioneer laserdisc (PILF-1977)

Ratings.

audio:	8 of 10
video:	8 of 10
subtitles:	Japanese only
story:	10 of 10
performances:	10 of 10
CYF:	10 of 10

In one of the most intensely sexual performances of his career, Chow Yun-Fat blazes white-hot in the role of Fan Liu Yuan, a rich, erudite and supremely confident man for whom the term "a mystery, wrapped in an enigma" could have been coined.

Struggling against certain immolation from Fan's flame is Pai Liu Hsu, a Shanghai divorcee who has been living a miserable, almost mummified existence in the home of her brother; after a chance meeting with Fan she is unaware that he has pulled invisible strings which eventually bring her to Hong Kong, ever nearer toward him. Pursuing Hsu with an erotic guile that leaves her confused and tortured with desire, Fan is determined to possess Hsu and that which she represents to him, a grace of spirit, a "Chinese-ness" that he feels he has lost.

With her future in the balance, Hsu manages to resist becoming Fan's mistress in the hopes of becoming his wife. Trying her own hand at a power play, she returns to Shanghai; three months of agonized waiting go by until one evening she receives a telegram summoning her back to Hong Kong. The extended absence from the only source of heat and passion in her life has given Hsu a new perspective on what is important to her, and she opts for a short time of turbulent desire over a righteous and empty lifetime of nothingness.

It is but a matter of days before the courses of the lives of Fan and Hsu are irrevocably altered by the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Shrugging off his world-weary facade as easily as his cashmere coat, Fan reveals a nobility of character in the face of adversity that at first shocks Hsu. His angst and cunning stripped away along with his status and wealth, reduced to the simple tasks of daily life he seems to rediscover the peace and contentment with Hsu that he had lost, and together they find happiness amidst the chaos of the fallen city of Hong Kong.

An incredible film with outstanding performances, cinematography, writing and direction, if this film could enjoy a re-release such as Lost Romance has scheduled, I think it could take its rightful place among the classics of Hong Kong fine art cinema. This is a film of cold beauty, photographed in jeweled colors, blazing whites and rich, deep blacks that are visually mesmerizing; the performance of Cora Miao as the woman who has neither a place in the modern or traditional world is fascinating, and Chow Yun-Fat as the man who regains his soul through love and adversity is nothing short of brilliant. None of this could have been achieved though without the direction of Ann Hui On-Wah. Her strengths and sensitivities give Love In A Fallen City that lift which takes it from a good film to a great one. Her translation of the late Eileen Chang's novel of desolation into a film of extraordinary beauty and passion, without ever indulging in sentiment, is a masterwork.

As this film was a product of Shaw Brothers studio, copies of it are exceedingly hard to find. I have seen two releases, one which is dubbed in Mandarin (an excellent dub, though Chow Yun-Fat's voice is replaced by that of another actor) and subtitled in English and Chinese. The quality of this tape, even the original commercial copy, is very poor both from an audio and video standpoint. The other release I have obtained is a laserdisc released by Pioneer Laserdisc in Japan. Though still a bit soft, the picture quality is otherwise excellent and the audio as well. This version, subtitled in Japanese, is in the original Cantonese language. For those who are familiar with the story and or who do not require subtitles to enjoy the film, this is the preferred version because of the original language as well as the better video quality.

See this one. No matter how bad the copy, it is worth putting up with any number of annoyances just to watch this film flow across your screen.





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