This classic Chinese melodrama – which borrows from Hollywood musicals, Chinese opera and Soviet cinema – revolves around the stormy lives of two opera singers set against the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution.
Why watch it ‘This is one of the best-known Chinese film classics. Xie started making films in the ’40s, and he’s one of the most important filmmakers from the country. It’s about two opera sisters and their different destinies. It really captures the sense of what the country was like during that time, and what aspirations the people had just before sweeping changes came about.’
Mandarin with English subtitles.