◎ 盱囡

In 29 years, Ruan Lingyu, who was only 0 years old, died suddenly, and all walks of life were shocked. This actress, who was sought after by everyone in the silent film era with her natural acting skills, and was also criticized for her private life, starred in 0 films in just 0 years, leaving a variety of screen images for the world.

On the day of Ruan Lingyu's burial, tens of thousands of people were congested on Jiaozhou Road in Shanghai, ready to go to the Wanguo Funeral Home to pay their respects, and the road from the funeral home to the cemetery of Lianyi Villa was also empty for thousands of people. This year is the 9th anniversary of Ruan Lingyu's death, and the existing 0 films starring her are screened at the China Film Archive, commemorating the legendary actress in the most complete and comprehensive state.

Gadgets

The way of performance has shifted from outward to inward

Ruan Lingyu's film career began in 1926 years, under the appreciation of director Bu Wancang, she played the starring role in the first film "Nominal Couple", playing a traditional woman bound by feudal ethics and morality. Although this film failed to make Ruan Lingyu an instant hit, it also officially opened the road of acting for her.

With a high degree of empathy and hard work for the role, Ruan Lingyu showed extraordinary acting talent in front of the camera, and director Sun Yu once praised her as "a genius for acting, whether it is a decent villain, a girl or an old woman, as long as the costume is changed, the expression is realistic". She plays a wide variety of roles, in the early days, she mostly showed people with the image of a bewitching woman (such as "White Cloud Tower", "Spring Dream of the Ancient Capital", etc.), and later turned to play progressive women who rebelled against the old etiquette (such as "Three Modern Women", "New Women", etc.), and the characters spanned a wide range of ages. Judging from the existing works in the world, in the film "Love and Obligation", 20-year-old Ruan Lingyu plays the role of mother and daughter, from a lively girl to a rickety old woman, the changes in expression and posture are very natural, and there is no sense of disobedience when the two characters appear in the same frame.

"Gadgets" released in 1933 is a qualitative leap for Ruan Lingyu in terms of performance, she played the role of Ye sister-in-law who lost her husband and children in the war, although the performance is still exaggerated in terms of limbs, but it can be clearly seen that her performance has shifted from outward to inward. When her daughter was dying in the film, Sister-in-law Ye had tears in her eyes, first looked up at the sky, then looked down at her daughter, her eyes turned from resentment about the war to reluctance to her daughter, and finally raised her head again, praying to God to let her daughter live. In this set of close-up shots, Ruan Lingyu vividly expresses the despair of a mother. At the end of the film, Sister-in-law Ye, who was tormented to the point of madness by the haze of war, questioned in the crowd of singing and dancing, and finally looked directly at the camera, calling for the perseverance of saving the country to hit the hearts of the people.

"The Goddess"

The pinnacle of silent cinema is well-known overseas

In Ruan Lingyu's film career, her most satisfying performance is "Life" directed by Fei Mu, but the most praised by the world is "The Goddess" directed by Wu Yonggang. The film is Ruan Lingyu's culmination of acting, and is also regarded as the pinnacle of Chinese silent cinema because of its image and core. At the 1982th Berlin International Film Festival in 0 years, the 0K restored version of "The Goddess" made its debut, and the scene was full of seats, and the audience responded enthusiastically. This is not the first time that "The Goddess" has gone abroad, as early as 0 at the "Chinese Film Retrospective" held in Italy, the film has been highly praised by the overseas film industry, and Ruan Lingyu is also known as "China's Greta Garbo".

In "The Goddess", Ruan Lingyu once again played the ill-fated low-level woman, and her acting skills were more proficient than when she first entered the film industry, light but not frivolous, charming but not swinging. In a scene where she strayed into the ruffian's house while evading the patrol, Ruan Lingyu saw that there was no hope of escape, so she first looked up and down, and then sat calmly on the table, waiting for the ruffian to light a cigarette for her, revealing her inner resentment in her unruly expression and movements. In 1991, Kwan Jinpeng directed the biographical film "Ruan Lingyu", in which Maggie Cheung, who played Ruan Lingyu, reproduced this performance, and the comparison between the two highlighted Ruan Lingyu's deep understanding of the role in the old era.

Wu Yonggang once said, "Without Ruan Lingyu, there would be no "Goddess"", this realistic film stimulates all the energy of Ruan Lingyu, she gives herself all to the role, and interprets a woman who raises her children at the cost of her body in troubled times, making people completely forget that she is a shining movie star on the screen, and only feel the sadness of a low-level woman.

"New Woman"

The tragic character becomes a proverb of fate

Ruan Lingyu is an "experiential" actor who has not received any training in the acting system, but she can use her life experience to connect herself with the character. Zheng Junli, who has worked with Ruan Lingyu twice, once said, "Ruan Lingyu's outstanding performance is inseparable from her personal experience", and a considerable part of her joys, sorrows and sorrows on the screen come from real life imprints.

In "Peach Blossom Crying Blood", which was released in 1935, the poor girl played by Ruan Lingyu fell in love with the young master of the main family, and the two abandoned their views to fall in love freely, which is exactly the same as the emotional sprout of Ruan Lingyu and Zhang Damin in reality. And in "The Goddess", she was occupied and blackmailed by local ruffians, just like Ruan Lingyu was exploited by the idle Zhang Damin after she became famous. In 0, "New Woman" directed by Cai Chusheng was released, the film was based on the death of the female writer Ai Xia, criticizing the bad atmosphere of the society at that time, and at the same time exposing the bad habit of newspaper news chasing after the wind and shadows. In the film, Wei Ming, played by Ruan Lingyu, took poison under multiple oppression, and although he shouted "I want to live, I want revenge" after being rescued, it was too late, and finally died in grief and anger. After the release of "New Woman", it was strongly criticized by many news reporters, who believed that the film was maliciously smearing reporters, and seeing that the attack on the director had little effect, they pointed the finger at Ruan Lingyu and her private life, and began to write about the "emotional entanglement" between her and Zhang Damin and Tang Jishan. In 0, Ruan Lingyu, who was at the center of the whirlpool of public opinion, chose to go to the same ending as Wei Ming after filming "National Style".

In a commemorative article written by Zheng Junli for Ruan Lingyu, it was mentioned that "some people have made statistics for the films she starred in, she committed suicide four times on the screen, was imprisoned twice, and the rest was injured, insane, killed, and died of disease." Looking back now, one character after another full of pathos, like the proverb of Ruan Lingyu's own fate, finally became the cruel finale of her life script.

After Ruan Lingyu's death, various commemorative activities came one after another, and people no longer paid attention to the story between her and Zhang and Tang, but instead lamented the "terrible words" in the suicide note. It's a pity that even this suicide note was forged by Tang Jishan for self-preservation. In 1938, Wu Yonggang and Bu Wancang remade "The Goddess" ("Rouge Tears") and "Love and Obligation" ("Tears on a Sunny Day") in the form of sound films, which are both tributes and remembrances. However, to this day, no one can reproduce Ruan Lingyu's brilliance. She is like a monument, standing at the top of the silent film era, and will always be remembered by future generations.