|
The Love Eterne (1963, HK) (aka
Liang Shan Bo yu Zhu Ying Tai)
In writer/director Han Hsiang Li's stylized musical
operetta and tragic love-story (a dreamy romance about forbidden
and unrequited love set in the 4th century) - one of the most famous
and successful Chinese-language films ever made, with lavish sets,
exquisitely-bright costuming, and elegantly staged scenes, and based
on a legendary folk tale ("The Butterfly Lovers"), similar
to Disney's animated Mulan (1998), and Shakespeare's Romeo
and Juliet:
- the character of Zhu Ying-tai (Betty Loh Ti), a
teenaged, 16 year-old girl and heiress from a wealthy family, who
cross-dressed to disguise herself as a male in order to get an
otherwise forbidden education, at the college at Hangzhou
- Ying-tai's meeting at school with 17 year-old male
Liang Shan-bo (portrayed by actress Ivy Ling Po), a working class
boy and bookworm; they became close friends ("brothers")
during their three years of schooling
- the scene of their memorable long journey home when
at a fantasy bridge, the teasing Ying-tai (secretly in love with
Shan-bo) attempted multiple times to reveal that she was really a
female to the dense and unsuspecting Shan-bo, who had accompanied
her part-way home; all she could do was get him to give his consent
to be matched with her "twin sister"
- after he had returned to school Shan-bo eventually
realized his passion for Ying-tai, but he was three months too late
-- Ying-tai's conservative parents had blocked the young pair's budding
romance by promising her hand in marriage to a son in the powerful
and wealthy Ma family
- in the magical and poignant conclusion, Shan-bo was
so grieved by the loss of Ying-tai that he died and was entombed;
during a visit to Shan-bo's grave site while on her way to her fiancee's
home, Ying-tai (in mourning clothes) pledged her undying love: ("Alive,
we couldn't unite, by death we will"); and miraculously, a tornado
storm and earthquake cracked opened the brick-covered, dome-shaped
tomb and Shan-bo appeared from inside; Ying-tai threw herself in,
and the funnel cloud covered the sealed tomb with sand
|
|
|
Shan-bo's Grave-Tomb Cracked Open
|
Appearance of Shan-bo Inside Tomb
|
Ying-Tai Threw Herself Into Tomb
|
- the final image: when the storm cleared, two remnants
of cloth from Ying-tai's mourning clothes were visible on the outside
of the tomb; when pulled out, they transformed into two beautiful
butterflies that fluttered away into the heavenly skies together,
as a chorus sang: "Flowers bloom under rainbow bridge, Butterflies
flutter in pairs, Time goes by but their love won't die, That's
Liang Shan-bo and Zhu Ying-tai!"
|
Ying-tai with Shan-bo at Fantasy Bridge
Shan-bo Grieved
Tornado Storm
Two Remnants of Cloth from Ying-Tai's Clothes
Pieces of Cloth Transformed into Heavenly Butterflies
|