I took a few cinema courses when I was studying at UBC in the faculty of Arts pursuing a major in Asian Language and Culture. I took Hong Kong Cinema, Chinese Cinema and Global Chinese Cinemas which deeply reflected Chinese culture and the historical background of filmmakers and filmmaking in that era.

One of the most memorable films that I watched during the class was actually the very first one that was screened from Hong Kong Cinema. It was a Chinese musical film from 1963 called The Love Eterne. Directed by Richard Li Han Hsiang and produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio, the film was about the “Butterfly Lovers”. The main characters are Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, who are often compared with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet because of their tragic ending.

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The classic Chinese story of the “Butterfly Lovers” is about a tragic romance between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Zhu was a woman that loves to read and study, but at that time, only men were allowed to go to school, so Zhu cross-dressed and disguised herself as a man to attend school. She meets Liang at the school and they study together for three years. During this time, Zhu falls in love with Liang. Later on, Liang finds out that Zhu is a girl and they vowed to be together. However, Zhu’s parents already arranged a marriage for her and she had no choice but to marry merchant Ma. Liang was so heartbroken that he falls ill and dies. On the day of Zhu’s marriage, she goes to Liang’s grave and all of a sudden thunder comes down from the sky and the grave opened up. Zhu immediately throws herself into the grave and their spirits turned into two butterflies that flew away together. The lovers will never be separated.

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The Love Eterne was presented in the Huangmei opera style, which was a popular Mandarin folk opera from Anhui province. It used melodic tunes with the combination of Western and Chinese instruments. I do not feel the music dragging the story nor stopping the progression, but rather the opera lines go in depth with the situation and explains it further in detail. It is an engaging film and there has been discussion that say that this film is a piece of art ahead of its time.

This opera flips the social norms upside down and makes the audience look at the story from a different perspective. The usages of both female actresses for the male and female leads gives a fresh encounter to other previous stories and plays. The audience knows that both characters are played by women, however once the story begins, our minds automatically switches in believing that Liang Shan Bo is a man and Zhu Ying Tai is cross-dressing as a man.

Here is the trailer to The Love Eterne:

I think that The Love Eterne is a very interesting film. The amazing detail in the sets and the costumes are just stunning for a film that was produced 60 years ago. If you have time, I do recommend you watching this film, it is really worthwhile