The Phantom Lover
| The Phantom Lover | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Ronny Yu |
| Produced by |
Leslie Cheung Michael Ng Raymond Wong |
| Written by |
Roy Szeto Raymond Wong Ronnie Yu |
| Starring |
Leslie Cheung Jacqueline Wu Huang Lei |
| Distributed by | Mandarin Films Ltd. |
|
Release date
|
1995 |
|
Running time
|
100 minutes |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Mandarin |
The Phantom Lover (夜半歌聲) is a 1995 Hong Kong film starring Leslie Cheung and Jacqueline Wu. It was directed by Ronny Yu and is a remake of the 1937 film Song at Midnight. The film itself is a loose adaptation of the classic Romeo and Juliet romance where love between two passionate lovers were ultimately doomed when parental opposition was the major obstacle. The main theme of the film was, however, a strong adaptation of the Phantom of the Opera. The film's language is entirely in Mandarin.
The film is loosely based on real life "Phantom Lover" Dan Cheung, known as such due to the ghostlike (that is, not real) nature of the women he romances. The film is set in China in the 1940s. Song Dan Ping (Leslie Cheung) was an ambitious theatre actor and owner who built his dream magnificent playhouse from where he entertained and dazzled the theatre-loving populace with his adaptation of classics such as Romeo and Juliet and other tragic love stories.
His passionate and devoted performances, drew the attention of the beautiful daughter of a corrupt and despotic official named To Wan-Yin (Jacqueline Wu). To Wan-Yin would sneak out of her house with her personal maid in the night to watch Dan Ping's play (he was acting as Romeo in Shakespeare's play--'Romeo and Juliet'). During the patriarchal era, romance between an actor (considered useless and without a bright future) and a rich man's daughter was definitely a taboo (it was an irony that the couple were 're-enacting' Romeo and Juliet in the movie). Hence after each performance, Dan Ping and Wan-Yin would have a rendezvous at the theatre and their love deepened to the extent that they vowed to run away from the city and to get married elsewhere.
However, Wan-Yin was betrothed to a man whom she did not love and was reputed to be cruel and sadistic and this persuaded her to throw caution to the wind and run away from home with Song. It also turned out that Wan-Yin's father arranged the marriage (as was the custom of China at that time) to benefit himself as he sought to become allies with another official of great influence, whose friendship would help to improve his social standing.
...
Wikipedia