Eighteen Springs
Based on an Eileen Chang novel, this is a story of romance and fate set in 1930s Shanghai. Manjing (Wu Chien-lien), a young woman from a wealthy family, works in a Shanghai factory and meets Shujun (Leon Lai), the son of wealthy Nanjing merchants. Despite Shujun's worries about Manjing's family (her sister, Manlu (Anita Mui), works as a nightclub "hostess), they fall in love in stages. Manjing's hesitancy about taking this step, Shujun's rejection of her family, and finally that family's baroquely conceived abuse and captivity of Shujun disrupt the expected progression from engagement to marriage. Shujun and Manjing reunite after a long separation, only to discover that their pleasure is simply a memory, a sentimental re-imagining of opportunities squandered and understandings never reached.
Released: 1997-09-12