Shen nu (The Goddess)
Wu Yonggang, CN 1934; Screenplay: Wu Yonggang; Cinematography: Hong Weilie; Cast: Ruan Lingyu, Li Keng. DCP (from 35mm), bw, 73 min. Mandarin intertitles with English subtitlesShanghai silent cinema icon Ruan Lingyu's greatest performance was in this 1934 drama, released one year before her tragic death by suicide at the age of twenty-five. Ruan plays a Shanghai sex worker who struggles to educate her son against a background of ruthless social prejudice. When a menacing gambler stumbles upon her and tries to control her, she fights back with astonishing intensity, moral creativity, and steely resolve. Ruan's incandescent performance is built on her vibrantly articulate body language and intense close-ups that celebrate the actress's ability to register emotional struggle with the subtlest of means. The film's modernist visual language shows Shanghai cinema at the vanguard of cinematic innovation. Ruan here incarnates the Shanghai "New Woman" who, in the Western-Chinese hybrid society of 1930s Shanghai, was at the forefront of challenging oppressive economic and gender power structures. A classic of world cinema whose urgency and eloquence remain essential for audiences today. (S.K.)