The Goddess

Alternate title(s):
Foreign Title: Shennü
Date: January 01, 1934 to December 31, 1934
Dates Note: 1934
Country of Origin: China
Place of Origin: China
Languages: Silent
Color: B&W
Silent: No
Based On:
Additional Info:

Curator Notes

Film Series/Exhibition Title: 
Chinese Cinema Classics: Screen Idols and Stardom Reexamined
Description: 

Silent film star Ruan Lingyu delivers one of her greatest, most luminous performances as a mother forced into prostitution in this classic of the Golden Age of Shanghai cinema. Splitting her time between rocking her infant son to sleep and prowling the streets for lecherous men, our virtuous heroine soon falls prey to a portly, violent pimp, who’ll stop at nothing to keep her under his sway. The film’s unblinking gaze at prostitution could make even jaded denizens of pre-Code Hollywood blush, while Ruan’s immortal performance combines the beauty and steel of contemporaries such as Stanwyck, Dietrich, and Harlow.

Authors/Roles: 
Jason Sanders

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