Two Stage Sisters
Encyclopedia
Two Stage Sisters is a 1964 Chinese drama film produced by Shanghai Tianma Film Studio and directed by Xie Jin
, starring Xie Fang and Cao Yindi. Made just before the Cultural Revolution
, it tells the story of two female Yue (Shaoxing) Opera
practitioners from the same troupe who end up taking very different paths in their lives. The film begins in 1935 and ends in 1950, just after the founding of New China.
village. The head of the troupe, A’Xin, intends to send the girl away, but Yue Opera teacher Xing, seeing her potential, takes Chunhua in as a disciple and trains her. Chunhua signs a deal with the troupe and becomes the performing partner (in a dan
role) to the teacher’s daughter Yuehong, the latter performing as a xiaosheng.
A rich provincial landlord Ni invites Chunhua and Yuehong to sing at his house privately after the troupe reaches his province. He takes an interest in Yuehong; however, Yuehong and her father spurn his interest and as a result, Kuomintang
cops forcibly seize Yuehong one day during a performance. Chunhua is also arrested and tied to a pillar for days as “public humiliation”. The two are released after Xing and A’Xin send bribes to the KMT cops.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War
, Yuehong, Chunhua and the troupe go through hard times. In 1941, Teacher Xing dies of an illness, and troupe master A’Xin sells his two best performers to Tang, a Shanghai
opera theater manager, on a three-year contract. Yuehong and Chunhua, now sworn sister
s, rapidly become Tang’s biggest stars, causing Tang to forsake his aging star and former lover, Shang Shuihua.
Three years elapse. Yuehong and Chunhua are renowned in the city. Chunhua remains down-to-earth but Yuehong grows steadily more materialistic. Sick of having to sing opera for life, Yuehong rashly agrees to Tang's proposal, but Chunhua distrusts Tang and refuses to support Yuehong’s marriage plans. Unbeknownst to Yuehong, Tang already has a wife, and is keeping her as a mistress.
One day faded ex-star Shang commits suicide
by hanging herself backstage. Chunhua is incensed that Tang, her former lover, attempts to shirk his responsibilities by claiming he has nothing to do with her death. Through this episode, Chunhua gets to know a "radical" lady journalist Jiang, who advises her to become "progressive" to teach other Chinese to distinguish between truth and falsehood. She starts performing “progressive” operas like an adaptation of Lu Xun
’s ‘’The New Year Sacrifice’’.
Chunhua’s works alert the KMT regime who gives Tang the task to ruin Chunhua's reputation. They get A’Xin to file a lawsuit against Chunhua and Manager Tang coerces Yuehong to testify against Chunhua, but at the crucial moment in the courtroom, Yuehong faints.
The film ends in 1950, one year after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Chunhua prepares to perform The White-Haired Girl for country folks at Zhejiang
. Tang has run off to Taiwan
with the KMT cohort and Yuehong is quietly abandoned at Shaoxing province. Although Yuehong witnesses Chunhua’s drama, she is too ashamed to face her sworn sister again. Near a quay later the day, however, the sisters manage a tearful reunion. On the barge the following day, Yuehong vows to learn her lesson and walk the "correct" path while Chunhua dedicates her entire life to performing revolutionary operas.
art, which he had studied during the Japanese Occupation at the Jiangen Drama Academy. He had then worked with noted opera practitioners like Huang Zuoling and Zhang Junxiang. The film was one of the few PRC films to feature a totally original screenplay rather than one adapted from literature or drama.
Xie Jin maintained later in his life that he was forced to make concessions in the second half of Two Stage Sisters. In an interview in 1989, he confessed "the second part seems weak to me. I couldn't finish it the way I would have liked. If I could redo the second part now, it would improve the entire film."
In the first half of the 20th century and before, Chinese opera
troupes were made up entirely of artistes in one gender only. This is due to strict fengjian
taboo
which forbade men and women to appear together on stage. This is still the case in more traditional Chinese opera troupes performing in Taiwan
or Hong Kong
. This also explains why most huangmeidiao
movies feature women in male roles (eg. Ivy Ling Po
).
Unlike Chen Kaige
’s Farewell My Concubine (1993), which depicts Beijing Opera
, the Yue troupe in Two Stage Sisters is an “all-females” troupe; Yuehong plays the xiaosheng role.
Shanghai was often seen during the early days of the PRC as a symbol of the bourgeois decadence and as such, is seen as the ideal venue to depict the stage sisters’ struggles later in life.
for portraying and condoning “bourgeois” values. It was particularly the case since Xia Yan
, Vice Minister of Culture when the film was made, had made script corrections and encouraged Xie Jin to shoot the film. As Jiang Qing
had a feud with Xia, Two Stage Sisters became the perfect vehicle to condemn Xia and was denounced as being a typical decadent pro-bourgeois drama and banned.
Since the late 1970s however, both the director and the film have been rehabilitated and the movie has made its round internationally. Two Stage Sisters won the Sutherland Trophy
of British Film Institute Awards in the 24th (1980) London Film Festival
, amongst other international prizes.
Today, Two Stage Sisters is considered by some to be Xie Jin’s masterpiece. Many critics find a Hollywood melodrama
flavor to the movie , while Gina Marchetti notes an indebtedness to Soviet
social realism
. Summing up the film, Marchetti concludes:
Gilbert Adair
gave the film a glowing review on Time Out magazine:
Mike Hale, writing on the New York Times, was also receptive:
J. Hoberman of The Village Voice
said that "as one sister moves left and the other right, the parallels with Chen Kaige
’s 1992 Farewell My Concubine are obvious."
Xie Jin
Xie Jin was an important Chinese film director. He rose to prominence in 1957, directing the film Woman Basketball Player No. 5. Most recently he was known for the direction of The Opium War....
, starring Xie Fang and Cao Yindi. Made just before the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, it tells the story of two female Yue (Shaoxing) Opera
Yueju opera
Yueju opera is a form of Chinese opera founded around 1906. Over time, it grew in popularity, now second only to the Beijing opera.Yueju was initially performed by men only, but female groups started performing in the style in 1923, and during the 1930–1940s, the form became female-only.- External...
practitioners from the same troupe who end up taking very different paths in their lives. The film begins in 1935 and ends in 1950, just after the founding of New China.
Plot
In 1935 a runaway tongyangxi, Zhu Chunhua, takes refuge at an itinerant Yue Opera troupe performing at a ShaoxingShaoxing County
Shaoxing Country is a county in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China.- Geography :Shaoxing County, located in the south of Yangtze Delta, meets Shanghai in north, Hangzhou in west and Ningbo in east. It is 20km from Keqiao to Xiaoshan International Airport, 230km to Pudong...
village. The head of the troupe, A’Xin, intends to send the girl away, but Yue Opera teacher Xing, seeing her potential, takes Chunhua in as a disciple and trains her. Chunhua signs a deal with the troupe and becomes the performing partner (in a dan
Dan (Chinese opera)
Dan is the general name for female roles in Chinese opera, often referring to leading roles. There are a few different kinds of dan in Chinese opera. The commonly seen ones are 'Guimen Dan', 'Hua Dan', 'Daoma Dan', 'Wu Dan', 'Lao Dan' and 'Cai Dan'...
role) to the teacher’s daughter Yuehong, the latter performing as a xiaosheng.
A rich provincial landlord Ni invites Chunhua and Yuehong to sing at his house privately after the troupe reaches his province. He takes an interest in Yuehong; however, Yuehong and her father spurn his interest and as a result, Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
cops forcibly seize Yuehong one day during a performance. Chunhua is also arrested and tied to a pillar for days as “public humiliation”. The two are released after Xing and A’Xin send bribes to the KMT cops.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
, Yuehong, Chunhua and the troupe go through hard times. In 1941, Teacher Xing dies of an illness, and troupe master A’Xin sells his two best performers to Tang, a Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
opera theater manager, on a three-year contract. Yuehong and Chunhua, now sworn sister
Blood brother
Blood brother can refer to one of two things: two males related by birth, or two or more men not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where the blood of each man is mingled together...
s, rapidly become Tang’s biggest stars, causing Tang to forsake his aging star and former lover, Shang Shuihua.
Three years elapse. Yuehong and Chunhua are renowned in the city. Chunhua remains down-to-earth but Yuehong grows steadily more materialistic. Sick of having to sing opera for life, Yuehong rashly agrees to Tang's proposal, but Chunhua distrusts Tang and refuses to support Yuehong’s marriage plans. Unbeknownst to Yuehong, Tang already has a wife, and is keeping her as a mistress.
One day faded ex-star Shang commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by hanging herself backstage. Chunhua is incensed that Tang, her former lover, attempts to shirk his responsibilities by claiming he has nothing to do with her death. Through this episode, Chunhua gets to know a "radical" lady journalist Jiang, who advises her to become "progressive" to teach other Chinese to distinguish between truth and falsehood. She starts performing “progressive” operas like an adaptation of Lu Xun
Lu Xun
Lu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...
’s ‘’The New Year Sacrifice’’.
Chunhua’s works alert the KMT regime who gives Tang the task to ruin Chunhua's reputation. They get A’Xin to file a lawsuit against Chunhua and Manager Tang coerces Yuehong to testify against Chunhua, but at the crucial moment in the courtroom, Yuehong faints.
The film ends in 1950, one year after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Chunhua prepares to perform The White-Haired Girl for country folks at Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
. Tang has run off to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
with the KMT cohort and Yuehong is quietly abandoned at Shaoxing province. Although Yuehong witnesses Chunhua’s drama, she is too ashamed to face her sworn sister again. Near a quay later the day, however, the sisters manage a tearful reunion. On the barge the following day, Yuehong vows to learn her lesson and walk the "correct" path while Chunhua dedicates her entire life to performing revolutionary operas.
Cast
- Xie Fang as Zhu Chunhua (竺春花), the main protagonist, a Yue Opera performer. Originally a tongyangxi, she is adopted and later excelled in the danDan (Chinese opera)Dan is the general name for female roles in Chinese opera, often referring to leading roles. There are a few different kinds of dan in Chinese opera. The commonly seen ones are 'Guimen Dan', 'Hua Dan', 'Daoma Dan', 'Wu Dan', 'Lao Dan' and 'Cai Dan'...
role. She becomes a leftist and performs revolutionary operas. - Cao Yindi as Xing Yuehong (邢月红), daughter of Teacher Xing. She plays the xiaosheng (male) parts. Enticed by Manager Tang to forsake her art, but is abused frequently until reunited with sworn sister, Chunhua.
- Feng Qi as Teacher Xing (邢师傅), father of Yuehong, a Yue Opera teacher.
- Gao Aisheng as Jiang Bo (江波), a "progressive" leftist lady reporter
- Shen Fengjuan as Xiaoxiang (小香), a former troupe performer who plays supporting roles. Later reunited with Chunhua.
- Xu Caigen as Jinshui (金水), Xiaoxiang's husband and former troupe member.
- Shangguan Yunzhu as Shang Shuihua (商水花), an aging former star in the Shanghai opera scene, a former mistress of Manager Tang who was jilted. She later hangs herself.
- Ma Ji as Qian Dakui (钱大奎), a Yue performer at the Shanghai theater
- Luo Jingyi as Yu Guiqing (俞桂卿), a Yue performer at the Shanghai theater
- Wu Bofang as Little Chunhua (小春花), a village tongyangxi who is Chunhua's namesake.
- Li Wei as Manager Tang (唐经理), the unscrupulous stage manager and theater owner who keeps Shang and Yuehong as his mistresses.
- Deng Nan as A'xin the “Monk” (和尚阿鑫), the former troupe owner, a not-so-educated boor who will do anything for money.
- Shen Hao as Mrs Shen (沈家姆妈), a wealthy heiress who tries to adopt Chunhua and has illicit dealings with Manager Tang.
- Dong Lin as Third Master Ni (倪三老爷), a provincial landlord who tries to take Yuehong for sexual favors.
- Ding Ran as Commissioner Pan (潘委员), a KuomintangKuomintangThe Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
official intent on ruining Chunhua and her revolutionary opera troupe.
Background and cultural contexts
Two Stage Sisters demonstrates director Xie’s keen interest in traditional Chinese operaChinese opera
Chinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE...
art, which he had studied during the Japanese Occupation at the Jiangen Drama Academy. He had then worked with noted opera practitioners like Huang Zuoling and Zhang Junxiang. The film was one of the few PRC films to feature a totally original screenplay rather than one adapted from literature or drama.
Xie Jin maintained later in his life that he was forced to make concessions in the second half of Two Stage Sisters. In an interview in 1989, he confessed "the second part seems weak to me. I couldn't finish it the way I would have liked. If I could redo the second part now, it would improve the entire film."
In the first half of the 20th century and before, Chinese opera
Chinese opera
Chinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE...
troupes were made up entirely of artistes in one gender only. This is due to strict fengjian
Fengjian
Fēngjiàn is the political ideology of the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China. Fengjian is a "decentralized system of government," comparable to European feudalism, though recent scholarship has suggested that fengjian lacks some of the fundamental aspects of feudalism.-Ranks:The sizes of troops and...
taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
which forbade men and women to appear together on stage. This is still the case in more traditional Chinese opera troupes performing in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
or Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. This also explains why most huangmeidiao
Huangmei Opera
Huangmei opera or Huangmei tone originated as a form of rural folksong and dance that has been in existence for the last 200 years and possibly longer. The music is performed with a pitch that hits high and stays high for the duration of the song...
movies feature women in male roles (eg. Ivy Ling Po
Ivy Ling Po
Ivy Ling Po is a Chinese actress and Huangmei opera singer. She played an important role in the entertainment industry for preserving the art form.-1950s - 1960s:...
).
Unlike Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema. His films are known for their visual flair and epic storytelling.-Early life:...
’s Farewell My Concubine (1993), which depicts Beijing Opera
Beijing opera
Peking opera or Beijing opera is a form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in the late 18th century and became fully developed and recognized by the mid-19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty court...
, the Yue troupe in Two Stage Sisters is an “all-females” troupe; Yuehong plays the xiaosheng role.
Shanghai was often seen during the early days of the PRC as a symbol of the bourgeois decadence and as such, is seen as the ideal venue to depict the stage sisters’ struggles later in life.
Reception and Criticism
Two Stage Sisters was well received domestically when it was first screened, but the film was heavily attacked during the Cultural RevolutionCultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
for portraying and condoning “bourgeois” values. It was particularly the case since Xia Yan
Xia Yan
Xia Yan was a Chinese playwright and screenwriter.Xia entered Zhejiang Industrial School in 1915 ....
, Vice Minister of Culture when the film was made, had made script corrections and encouraged Xie Jin to shoot the film. As Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing was the pseudonym that was used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong's last wife and major Communist Party of China power figure. She went by the stage name Lan Ping during her acting career, and was known by various other names during her life...
had a feud with Xia, Two Stage Sisters became the perfect vehicle to condemn Xia and was denounced as being a typical decadent pro-bourgeois drama and banned.
Since the late 1970s however, both the director and the film have been rehabilitated and the movie has made its round internationally. Two Stage Sisters won the Sutherland Trophy
Sutherland Trophy
Created in 1958, the Sutherland Trophy was awarded annually by the British Film Institute to "the maker of the most original and imaginative [first or second feature] film introduced at the National Film Theatre during the year"...
of British Film Institute Awards in the 24th (1980) London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
, amongst other international prizes.
Today, Two Stage Sisters is considered by some to be Xie Jin’s masterpiece. Many critics find a Hollywood melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
flavor to the movie , while Gina Marchetti notes an indebtedness to Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
social realism
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
. Summing up the film, Marchetti concludes:
- “…more than simply documenting aesthetic and social changes by incorporating these opera allusions, Two Stage Sisters chronicles its own roots, giving the viewer a rare glimpse of the history behind Chinese film aesthetics of the mid-1960s. It is as a document of this unique Chinese socialist cinematic sensibility that Two Stage Sisters is particularly important to an understanding of Chinese film culture as well as socialist cinema aesthetics in general.”
Gilbert Adair
Gilbert Adair
Gilbert Adair is a Scottish author, film critic and journalist. He won the Author's Club First Novel Award in 1988 for his novel The Holy Innocents. In 1995 he won the Scott Moncrieff Translation Prize for his book A Void, which is a translation of the French book La Disparition by Georges Perec...
gave the film a glowing review on Time Out magazine:
- “The performances are terrific, but what really distinguishes this amazing hybrid (in Western terms, that is) is the director's fluid and elegant style. Colour, composition, pace, and above all, camera movement, create an exhilarating spectacle that is never thematically shallow. Imagine SirkDouglas SirkDouglas Sirk was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s.-Life and work:...
's colours and emotional sense, ScorseseMartin ScorseseMartin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
or MinnelliVincente MinnelliVincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director, famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon, and An American in Paris. In addition to having directed some of the most famous and well-remembered musicals of his time, Minnelli made...
's craning camera shots, allied to a politically perceptive treatment, and you're half way to imagining this film.”
Mike Hale, writing on the New York Times, was also receptive:
- “Two Stage Sisters … is unexpectedly fluid and subtle, with emotions that ring true. It’s also a sweeping, ambitious narrative that moves from the provinces to the theater district of Shanghai and back again. Some cramped staging may reflect a lack of resources, but Mr. Xie’s technical assurance and the overall level of the acting are the equal of at least a modest Hollywood drama of the 1950s or ’60s.”
J. Hoberman of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
said that "as one sister moves left and the other right, the parallels with Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema. His films are known for their visual flair and epic storytelling.-Early life:...
’s 1992 Farewell My Concubine are obvious."
External links
- Two Stage Sisters at the Chinese Movie Database