Cloud of Romance
Director: Chen Hung-lieh
Year: 1977
Rating: 6.0
Watching this 1977 Brigitte Lin Taiwanese film is somewhat like opening a
hidden treasure trove of sumptuous Brigitte expressions. Just twenty-three
at the time but already a huge star, Brigitte was still holding on to her
youthful and willowy insouciance but clearly she is on the verge of becoming
a woman. In this film she goes from giggly schoolgirl to a woman ripped apart
by an impossible love and in the process unleashes a furious torrent of exquisite
Brigitte looks that should curl the toes and torch the hair of even the most
demanding Brigitte fanatic.
Her warm luminous beauty here is so striking that it is almost like taking
a visual beating – trying to fend it off – to resist it is futile. She leads
the attack with her luxurious eyebrows – they keep you at your distance –
but the eyebrows are just a feint – they throw you off balance as she follows
with her misty mournful eyes like a body blow to the solar plexus. The eyes
envelop you like a fog, like a deep ocean – stop you from breathing for a
dangerous moment – and then they suddenly turn into ember fires of disdain
that rock you back on the balls of your feet. You quiver, you buckle, you
go down – the fight is over – her slender nose, her quizzical mouth, her chiseled
cheekbones, her endearing chin simply finish the job – put you under – it’s
beauty overkill.
This is one of the more interesting Brigitte Taiwanese films for a couple
of reasons. First it is much darker than most of her films from this period
and Brigitte’s character is less than saintly and in fact her rash behavior
has tragic consequences for everyone. Her acting shows some real depth and
dexterity for one of these “weepy” offerings and one can really see hints
of what is to come.
Another intriguing aspect of the film lies in the relationship of the characters
vis a vis the relationship of the actors who play them. The story revolves
around a love triangle between Brigitte, Chin Han and Charlie Chin. In the
real world a similar situation was occurring, as these two actors were to
revolve around Brigitte like satellites around the moon for a number of years
until both lost gravity and crashed. Unlike reality though, in the film Brigitte
favors Charlie and not Chin Han. Interestingly, as Meg points out on her wonderfully
informative Brigitte Lin site (brigittelin.com - now gone) the two men never
appear on the screen at the same time as they battle for the affections of
the Goddess of Asian cinema. One can only conjecture at the tension on the
set - but these were three of the most popular Taiwanese actors and the public
demanded to see the two men cast opposite Brigitte.
Brigitte’s character's nickname is "piece of cloud" – and at the beginning
of the film she floats like one – happily across the screen – but by the end
this cloud is full of tears and close to madness. As is the usual case in
these “weepies”, the culprit is love. That sort of big oppressive love that
makes you do stupid things, in which you have no shame, no pride. Brigitte
meets Charlie – they fall in love – it sounds like a fairy tale – until Charlie’s
black widow mother turns it into a Grimm's fairy tale. No one is good enough
for her boy she spits out with her poisoned tongue – you have “a pair of ill
behaved eyes” she tells Brigitte when her doting son is out of hearing range.
Brigitte burns with anger – the nostrils flare – the eyes go cold with Asia
the Invincible fury “I also have an ill behaved nose, an ill behaved mouth,
millions of ill behaved cells and countless ill behaved hairs”. Charlie is
shocked that anyone could speak to his sweet mother like this and slaps Brigitte
across the face. In disbelief, she walks away.
Into the arms of Chin Han – in love with her since childhood. She gives
into his statements of love and marries him. Happy on the surface, she still
longs for Charlie and when he shows up again one day she is unable to say
no to him. Throw into this mix a sub-plot about Brigitte discovering her
true origins, a number of lovelorn ballads and you have a fully blown Taiwanese
weepie that may sound like purple prose melodrama, but in its own way it
is fairly engrossing.
The Ocean Shores VCD for this is one of the better transfers I have seen
of these old Brigitte films – nice transfer and excellent, easy to read English
sub-titles. Many of these do not have any sub-titles unfortunately.