From the light to the shadow flying Everything is bought and sold,
And life laughs at us frankly.
We are indignant, we are indignant,
But we sell and we buy.
Omar Khayyam
Night, street, lantern... Shanghai never sleeps. On a quarter to nine in the afternoon. The nightlife of Asia’s premier brothel city is just beginning. Work's waiting. Already a rickshaw at the door. But first: lull the baby son, and persuade the neighbor to look after if anything. The young woman Shennu, which translates as both a goddess and a euphemism of a Chinese prostitute, is like our priestess of love. Ambiguous name, so is life. By day, a loving mother, a Far Eastern “Madonna and Child,” and at dusk, a night butterfly flies to where the lights of neon ads burn so temptingly. Where around the clock something and someone is sold. There's money and a lot of clients with plump wallets. But it would not burn the wings of intriguers in this city, political metamorphosis, corruption, social inequality. Those fragile wings that only they are able to tear from the bottom, giving a chance at least a step up the social elevator. Not by himself, but by paying for his education. Big city, and work, if there is, it's for mere pennies. That's what we have to do in the whirlpool of life. And then there's the cops with the perpetual round-ups, the bandits, tying themselves into pimps. It is not easy for a single mother, and even in times of crisis.
Surprisingly, it was the stock market crash that sparked the interest of stock market players in cinema, including Chinese. The money was poured into the river, and with it the influx of film specialists from the United States increased. American influence, which lasted from the 1920s until the formation of China, led to what is often called the Golden Age of Chinese cinema. Technical and artistic skills improved, and with them the ideology itself changed. The films acquired an acute social orientation, touching on the topic of civil responsibility, touching on the pressing problems of capitalist society. Cinema has turned from a mere fun into a psychological weapon that helps reform the country. It is interesting that more than half of the films shot at that time are about the struggle for the liberation and equality of women, despite the fact that men were still filming “left” films. “Goddess” is one of the most characteristic and successful examples of progressive tapes. Despite the fact that this is the directorial debut of Jungan Wu, and the film is shot according to its own script, the work seems quite mature, led by the confident hand of the master. The film is silent, but due to the widespread use of large and medium plans, non-verbal contact between the actor and the viewer occurs, and the subtitles only complement what is already read in facial expressions, gestures, views, despite the fact that they are very true and natural, emotional, but without excessive expression, which is characteristic of social realism. The focus of the existential drama is the fate of a simple woman, her struggle for her rights against a pious society, unable to provide a normal job, guaranteeing a decent life. But at the same time, the only possible way to survive is the first ancient one, which, according to historians, was forced to remember every thirteenth woman who lived in Shanghai in the 1930s. The fate of a prostitute is tragic - in fact, slaves of modern times, but the life of a loving mother is bright. And somewhere between these two sides of life, the dark and the light, the best human qualities emerge. A mother’s love is sacrificial, her whole life is daily brought to the altar of all-consuming love. And this is not an investment in the future, waiting for the next dividend, and not even a dream of the notorious “glass of water” in infirmity. In this love is the very meaning of life in its purest form, completely free from self-interest. The life of the heroine, at least, shows that a corrupt woman is not necessarily a fallen woman. Yes, the image is idealized, but at the same time very convincing. Shanghai Greta Garbo – Ruan Lingyu played another silent masterpiece.
The life of the actress was as difficult as her heroine. She experienced both the pain of humiliation due to social inequality and male tyranny. Far poor mother, working as a maid, managed to find funds to give her daughter a quality acting education. And by the age of 24, Zhuan Lingyu had played 29 roles, each of which is very high level. And the role in “Goddess” is considered one of the best in Chinese cinema. The image of the heroine is organic and close to the actress, thanks to the rich life experience of a very young woman. Sadly, this role was one of the last in her short, but bright, star-burning career. And the next role in “New Women” by Cai Chusheng was truly fatal for her. There is a kind of eerie mysticism in the fact that after playing a famous writer who committed suicide, she chose the same path for herself. However, the details of her interesting biography can be found by watching the film “Actress” by Stanley Kwan. Note only one more crossroads of the fates of Zhuan Lingyu and the heroine of the “Goddess”, who got into a critical situation because of the gossip of a “good” environment. The actress was under the crossfire of idle speculation spread by the yellow press, often deliberately mixing her real life with replicable glamorous images from the covers of magazines and front pages of tabloids. "Gossip kills!" she wrote in one suicide note. Add it. It kills negligence, in this case medical negligence. The difference between cinema and real life is that everything ends well, albeit relatively. There is always a good man, because good always conquers evil. At least in the movies. This is especially true under the already known influence.
