A widow's virtue becomes her prison in 1960s Hong Kong's most devastating feminist grenade.
A widow upholds feudal virtue by suppressing her love for a cavalry captain in favor of her daughter.
Cinematography
Stunning black-and-white compositions that suffocate with beauty.
Acting
Lisa Lu's face does what scripts fear to write.
Direction
Tang Shu-Shuen: woman director crashing Hong Kong's boys club.
Director
Tang Shu-Shuen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Tang Shu-Shuen was Hong Kong's first major woman director, making this at 26 while film schools rejected her applications.
The 'virtue arch' was real—Tang filmed at an actual memorial structure for chaste widows, turning monument into accusation.
HK
