Stanley Kwan

Rouge

Rouge

Cantopop superstars Anita Mui Yim-fong and Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing display their iconic androgynous magnetism as doomed lovers in this emblematic film of Hong Kong’s Second New Wave, directed by pioneering queer melodrama master Stanley Kwan. Rouge bridges past and present in its tragic romance between a humble courtesan and the wayward scion of a wealthy family, who embrace death by suicide pact amid the opulent teahouses of 1930s Hong Kong. Fifty years later, she returns to the city-state to find him, drawing a young contemporary couple (Alex Man Chi-leung and Emily Chu Bo-yee) into her quest to rekindle a passion that may be as illusory as time itself. With its lush mise-en-scène and transcendently melancholy mood, this sensuous ghost story is an exquisite, enduringly resonant elegy for both lost love and vanishing history.

Film Info

  • Hong Kong
  • 1987
  • 96 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • Cantonese
  • Spine #1129

Director-Approved Blu-Ray Special Edition Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Stanley Kwan, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
  • New conversation between Kwan and filmmaker Sasha Chuk
  • Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema, a 1997 documentary by Kwan exploring the representation of queerness and LGBT identity in Chinese film
  • Still Love You After All These, a 1997 memoir film by Kwan about his Hong Kong identity
  • Trailer
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by film programmer and critic Dennis Lim

New cover by Jason Raish

Purchase Options

Director-Approved Blu-Ray Special Edition Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Stanley Kwan, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
  • New conversation between Kwan and filmmaker Sasha Chuk
  • Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema, a 1997 documentary by Kwan exploring the representation of queerness and LGBT identity in Chinese film
  • Still Love You After All These, a 1997 memoir film by Kwan about his Hong Kong identity
  • Trailer
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by film programmer and critic Dennis Lim

New cover by Jason Raish

Rouge
Cast
Anita Mui Yim-Fong
Fleur
Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing
Twelfth Master
Alex Man Chi-leung
Yuan Ting
Emily Chu Bo-Yee
Chu
Irene Wan Pik-ha
Shu Hsien
Tam Sin-hung
Twelfth Master’s mother
Chu Shui-tong
Twelfth Master’s father
Lau Kar-wing
Director
Huang Pa-ching
Fortune teller
Credits
Director
Stanley Kwan
Adapted from the book by
Lillian Lee Pik-wah
Written by
Chiu Kang-Chien
Produced by
Jackie Chan
Director of photography
Bill Wong Chung-piu
Art direction by
Piu Yeuk-muk
Horace Ma Kwong-wing
Costume design by
Horace Ma Kwong-wing
Wan Fung-lan
Music by
Michael Lai Siu-tin

Current

Rouge: Love Out of Time
Rouge: Love Out of Time

Two eras of Hong Kong history collide in this exquisite ghost story, which solidified director Stanley Kwan’s status as one of cinema’s truest romantics.

By Dennis Lim

10 Things I Learned: Rouge
10 Things I Learned: Rouge

The producer of our edition of the masterful 1987 melodrama tells the stories of some of director Stanley Kwan’s legendary collaborators, including superstars Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung.

By Aliza Ma