Has Chen Kaige Returned To Form With FOREVER ENTHRALLED?

Let's be honest and call Chen Kaige's previous film The Promise what it is: a pretty to look at, entertaining in bursts great big failure of a film made by a talented man who did not at all understand the genre he was dabbling in. Hence there has been a great deal of anticipation for Kaige's new film, Forever Enthralled, a biopic of famed Chinese opera singer Mei Lanfang starring Zhang Ziyi and Masanobu Ando. This sort of thing is the type of sumptuous relationship drama that made Kaige's name in the first place and fans are rightly happy to see him return to it. The one possible hiccup? Kaige initially cast Hong Kong pop star Gillian Chung in a key role. Shot her role, too, and then the whole Edison Chen scandal broke and Chung's nude photos were spread all over the Hong Kong tabloids, a situation that the surviving family of Lanfang did not appreciate one bit leading to the complete and total removal of Chung's character from the film. Not a recast, mind you, but a complete removal which certainly has the potential to much about with the drama.

That said: the trailer's out and it's looking mighty good. You'll find it below the break.