Center Stage

5/8/2026

Though I didn't love the slightly confused style of this biopic, it's certainly a gloriously photographed story of the life of Ruan Lingyu (Maggie Cheung) as she embarked on the production of her final film "New Woman". She was an acclaimed silent film star in 1930s China who lived her life to the full, shall we say, and ultimately fell foul of a political class that was being more than subtly influenced by the aspiring Kuomintang movement. It didn't help that she was involved in a bit of a love triangle with the successful but married tea exporter Tang Chi-Shan (Chin Han) and coupled with her often quite seamy roles was generally considered something of a scarlet woman. Interspersed with her increasingly tragic story are more contemporaneous scenes from those in the cast discussing their