Restored Asian Films

Praised as the greatest Chinese silent film, this work of realism features Ruan Lingyu, the bewitching actress hailed as China’s Greta Grabo. The film tells the story of a woman down on her luck. When her husband commits suicide, the young woman becomes a prostitute in order to pay her son’s tuition fees. When her neighbors begin to spread gossip about her at school, her son is forced to drop out. The pressure pushes her to fight with her back against the wall.

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Ruan Lingyu’s devastating performance as an unnamed ‘goddess’– an ironic euphemism for her profession as a prostitute – is a classic of world cinema. As a mother desperate to provide for her young son and forced to take brutal vengeance on her pimp, Ruan scorches the screen with brilliantly understated naturalism. Director Wu Yonggang’s stance is deeply humanistic – he never passes judgment on his heroine’s work or actions. It is a profoundly moving drama, all the more poignant by the fact that its star committed suicide at the age of 24, a year after the film’s release.

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