Retrospective - Chinese Opera Masterpieces on Screen
Dream in the Peony Pavilion
游园惊梦 (You Yuan Jing Meng) by XU Ke
China / 1960 / 68' / 35 mm / Color
Art Director: CUI Wei
Starring:MEI Lanfang, HUA Chuanhao, YAN Huizhu, YU Zhenfei
Kunqu Opera
Background
Dream in the Peony Pavilion is a traditional play from the Kunqu opera, which originates in the XVth century at Kunshan in the Jiansu province. It is considered the oldest form of Chinese opera. On May 18th, 2001 UNESCO declared Kunqu a masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Dream in The Peony Pavilion is taken from the tenth act of the play The Peony Pavilion (Mu Dan Ting), entitled "The Interrupted Dream" (Jing Meng). This celebrated work written by the famous playwright TANG Xianzu during the Ming Dynasty in 1598 describes the passionate love story between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei. The opera is made up of fifty five acts (chu) and takes some twenty hours to perform.
The Film
Dream In The Peony Pavilion is considered the main example of "Gui men dan", the part of the young unmarried girl (Du Liniang). The interpretation of this role by MEI Lanfang became one of the actor's biggest successes. Dream In The Peony Pavilion is his last film.
Synopsis
Du Liniang is the young daughter of an important civil servant of the Southern Song Dynasty. One beautiful spring day she goes for a walk with her maid Chunxian, disobeying her parents and her tutor. When Du returns to her bedroom she falls asleep, and in her dream she meets the young Liu Mengmei in the garden. They fall madly in love with each other, the spirits of the flowers acting as matchmakers. Du Liniang's mother wakes her, and because Du's seems so in ecstasy her mother advises her never to go walking in the garden again… but Du Liniang remains passionately attached to her dream and to her fantasy meetings with Liu, and slowly begins to sink into illness and depression.
XU Ke (1912-1985), Director
Director, set designer and translator, XU Ke started out in 1933 as a set designer for the theatre. During the years 1934 and 1937 he worked for Lianhua in Shanghai, the studio for progressive films, as a set designer the celebrated films Goddess (Shen Nu, 1934, WU Yonggang), Gold and Sand (Lang tao sha, 1936, WU Yonggang), Bloodshed on Wolf Mountain (Lang shan die xue ji, 1936, FEI Mu)... He then left for Yanan and became a professor at the Luxun Academy in 1940. In 1946, XU Ke was involved in the founding of the Studio for Films in the north-east. In 1949, he directed the film Light Returns to the City (Guang mang wan zhang, 1949). In 1957, he became the director at the Peking Film Studio. His other masterpiece is the The Beautiful Courtesan (Du Shiniang, 1957). As a translator he translated, and published in 1981 An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski.
CUI Wei (1912-1979), Art Director
Director/actor, CUI Wei was born in 1912 in the Shandong province. At the beginning of the 1930s he was involved in the alliance of dramatists of the left wing. In 1938 he was the theatre professor at the Luxun Academy in Yanan. In 1945 he was a director and an actor for the Peking Film Studio. His most famous films are: Song of Youth (Qing chun zhi ge, 1959), Zhang Ga the Soldier Boy (Xiao bing Zhang Ga, 1963) and the trilogy adapted from the Peking opera Women Generals of the Yang Family (Yang men nu jiang, 1960), Wild Boar Forest (Ye zhu lin, 1962) and The Battle of Hongzhou County (Mu Guiying da zhan Hongzhou, 1963). CUI WEI is considered as one of the most important film directors on Chinese opera, following the example of FEI Mu.
Filmography
- Xu Ke 许珂
Director:
- Jian Gan He Bian 箭杆河边 (1964)
- Rêve Dans le Pavillon des Pivoines / Dreaming After a Spring 游园惊梦 (You yuan jing meng) (1960)
- The Beautiful Courtesan 杜十娘 (Du Shiniang) (1957)
- Endless Potential 无穷的潜力 (Wu qiong de qian li) (1954)
- Light Returns To City 光芒万丈 (Guang mang wan zhang) (1949)
- Cui Wei 崔嵬
Director:
- Stormy Mileage 风雨里程 (Feng yu li cheng) (1978)
- Mountain Flower 山花 (Shan hua) (1976)
- Hong Yu 红雨 (1975)
- Fighting On The Plains 平原作战 (Ping yuan zuo zhan) (1974)
- Tian Shan De Hong Hua 天山的红花 (1964)
- Zhang Ga the Soldier Boy 小兵张嘎 (Xiao bing Zhang Ga) (1963)
- The Battle Of Hingzhou County 穆桂英大战洪州 (Mu Guiying da zhan Hongzhou) (1963)
- Wild Boar Forest 野猪林 (Ye whu lin) (1962)
- Bei Da Huang Ren 北大荒人 (1961)
- Women Generals of the Yang Family 杨门女将 (Yang men nu jiang) (1960)
- Song of Youth 青春之歌 (Qing chun zhi ge) (1959)
Screenwriter:
- Stormy Mileage 风雨里程 (Feng yu li cheng) (1978)
- Hong Yu 红雨 (1975)
- The Battle Of Hingzhou County 穆桂英大战洪州 (Mu Guiying da zhan Hongzhou) (1963)
- Mu Guiying Takes Comman 穆桂英挂帅 (Mu Guiying gua shuai) (1958)
- The Butterfly Cup 蝴蝶杯 (Hu Die Bei) (1957)
- Mei Lanfang 梅兰芳 (1894-1961)
- Rêve Dans le Pavillon des Pivoines / Dreaming After a Spring 游园惊梦 (You yuan jing meng) (1960)
- Goddess Luo River 洛神 (Luo Shen) (1956)
- Regrets Éternels / Happiness Neither in Life or Death 生死恨 (Sheng Si Hen) (1947)
- Madame Shangyuan 上元夫人 (Shangyuan fu ren) (1926)
- Daiyu Burying the Fallen Petals 黛玉葬花 (Daiyu zang hua) (1926)
- Mulan, the Warrior Maid 木兰从军 (Mulan cong jun) (1926)
- Beauty Xi Shi 西施歌舞 (Xishi ge wu) (1926)
- Yu Ji Brandish Sword 虞姬舞剑 (Yu ji wu jian) (1926)
- Chunxiang Disturbs Class 春香闹学 (Chunxiang nao xue) (1920)
- Fairy Gives Flowers to the Earth 天女散花 (Tian nu san hua) (1920)
- Yu Zhenfei 俞振飞 (1902-1993)
Role: Liu Mengmei
- Tai Bai Zui Xie 太白醉写 (1977)
- Pei Shaojun And Li Qianjun 墙头马上 (Qiang tou ma shang) (1963)
- Rêve Dans le Pavillon des Pivoines / Dreaming After a Spring 游园惊梦 (You yuan jing meng) (1960)
- Yan Huizhu 言慧珠 (1919-1966)
Role: Chunxiang
- Pei Shaojun And Li Qianjun 墙头马上 (Qiang tou ma shang) (1963)
- Rêve Dans le Pavillon des Pivoines / Dreaming After a Spring 游园惊梦 (You yuan jing meng) (1960)
- You Sisters in the Red Chamber 红楼二尤 (Hong lou er you) (1951)
- Hua Chuanhao 华传浩 (1912-1975)
Role: Du liniang's mother
- Pei Shaojun And Li Qianjun 墙头马上 (Qiang tou ma shang) (1963)
- Rêve Dans le Pavillon des Pivoines / Dreaming After a Spring 游园惊梦 (You yuan jing meng) (1960)
- Fifteen Strings of Cash 十五贯 (Shi wu guan) (1956)