5 of Anita Mui’s most memorable films – have you watched them all?
On the 15th anniversary of the star’s death, we look at her most iconic roles, from a lost lover in ‘Rouge’ to the gender-fluid protagonist in ‘Kawashima Yoshiko’
Before she died 15 years ago today, Anita Mui Yim-fong shone not only on stage as a singer but on the silver screen as an actor for nearly two decades.
Mui’s chiselled features, lean figure and charismatic voice made it possible for her to waltz between masculine and feminine roles, and therefore stretched the range of characters in her filmography while exploring the possibility of characterisation in Hong Kong cinema.
Here’s a look at the many faces of “Hong Kong’s daughter” in front of the lens:
Fleur in Rouge (1988)
Directed by Stanley Kwan Kam-pang
With its intricate and tragic screenplay adapted from Lilian Li Pi Hua’s eponymous novel, Rouge brought Mui’s acting finesse into the spotlight, earning her Best Actress awards at the Hong Kong Film Award the Golden Horde Film Festival in 1988, and the 1989 Asia-Pacific Film Festival.
Mui plays Fleur, a courtesan in the 1930s who falls in love with a wealthy playboy – the “12th master” – Chan chen-pang, played by Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing. The star-crossed lovers, whose relationship is thwarted by Chan’s family, form a suicide pact hoping to reunite in death.
However, when Fleur cannot find him in the underworld, she returns to earth 53 years later in search of his lover. More specifically, she shows up pale-faced and wearing a cheongsam at a newspaper office in 1987, asking to place an advertisement for her lost lover. Talk about spooky.
Here’s the iconic opening scene of the film: