Center Stage

Center Stage, also known as Actress and Yuen Ling-yuk, is a 1991 Hong Kong biographical drama film directed by Stanley Kwan. It follows the life and career of silent film actress Ruan Lingyu (1910–1935), portrayed by Maggie Cheung. Cheung won Best Actress award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1992 for performance. Plot summary The film is based on a true story: the tragic life of China's first prima donna of the silver screen, Ruan Lingyu. This movie chronicles her rise to fame as a movie actress in Shanghai during the 1930s. Nicknamed the "Chinese Garbo," Ruan Lingyu began her acting career when she was 16 and committed suicide at 24. The film alternates between present scenes (production talks between director Kwan, Cheung, and co-star Carina Lau, interviews of witnesses who knew Ruan), re-creation scenes with Cheung (as Ruan, acting inside this movie), and extracts from Ruan's original films including her final two films The Goddess (1934) and New Women (1935).