The Love Affair of Rainbow
 
Director: Gao Shan-lan
Year: 1977
Rating: 5.5
This is another of Brigitte’s pre-HK films back when she was knocking out lots of weepies in Taiwan during the 1970’s. This one is a silly truffle of a film. It has the dramatic impact of opening a box of cheap chocolates – but does it ever have a smorgasbord of Brigitte Lin within. 

This film gorges itself on her image, her face, and her style. It is almost solely a celebration of this beautiful woman and nearly worshipful in the way it photographs her in soft light and dewy close-ups. Back before she played Asia the Invincible and other bigger than life characters, she seemed so fragile – as if she could easily be hurt by a harsh word or a cruel intention. The face still untouched by time or tide. The thick sensual eyebrows, the vulnerable smile,  the proud cheekbones, the powerful dark emotive eyes, her slender nose and finally the classic cleft chin. It is simply a picture of beauty in its purest form. I know I’m getting carried away here – but she just looks so magically lovely in this film.


Brigitte is teamed up again with Charlie Chin – who co-starred with Brigitte in many of these Taiwanese weepies. This one is almost a fairy tale as Charlie falls down a mountain one day and sees flower petals flowing down a stream. Out of curiosity he looks for the source and finds Brigitte all in white sitting upon a rock throwing them into the water. It is love at first sight and sound.
 

Brigitte lives a fairy like existence – living in a small lovely house in the country with her father – surrounded by the beautiful flowers she grows – undisturbed by the world beyond her garden. Her name is Chang Shiao-Hon – Morning Rainbow. Charlie brings the outside world to her front door. He is a city boy and his family owns a fashion house in Taiwan and Charlie is expected to follow in the family business and marry within his class and circle. He wants to be a writer though and cherishes the purity and honesty of Brigitte. In a funny scene with the girl his parents have selected for him, he pretends to be playing a blind man in a film he saw and says he must feel her face – in the process he “accidentally” removes her wig, her false eye lashes and phony finger nails. It says everything about this girl and his family’s lifestyle.
 

Charlie introduces Brigitte to his family as the girl he wants to marry – the mother faints (something she does later in the film as well) and the father is incensed. They marry anyway and live in her small house – but Brigitte is worried that his break-off with his family will eventually cause them much unhappiness. So when Charlie’s sister comes with a plan to bring the family together again, Brigitte buys into it. 

The plan is to make Brigitte a famous model – and she is turned Pygmalion-like from a sweet country girl into a beautiful fashion model – all without the parents knowing who she is. Charlie doesn’t much like the change – but Brigitte kind of enjoys all the great clothes she gets to wear  - and her new hairstyle – and so did I!


And like all models do in movies, she soon starts snorting cocaine by the truckload, having multiple sex partners, is nasty to waiters, forgets Charlie and runs away with a bisexual Italian Count who prefers Brigitte in skin tight leather, six inch heels and small fast Italian sports cars. Charlie slowly walks into the ocean – the movie fades.
 

Just kidding! These things don’t happen in Taiwanese weepies as far as I know. But it would have made for a better film! This is pretty inoffensive pap – but is sort of fun in an innocent other worldly way – and if you want to see a young radiant Brigitte – this will fulfill that need.