"Small wonder this contemporary ghost story has been canonised as one of the great Chinese-language films." – Time Out Hong Kong

A modern-day Romeo and Juliet that moves between 1930s and 1980s Hong Kong in an elegant juxtaposition of past and present, Stanley Kwan's Rouge is a masterstroke of melodrama, combining detective and ghost stories.

Two star-crossed lovers, Fleur and Chan, commit to a suicide pact, given that their roles in life (he, from a wealthy family; she, a lowly courtesan) prevent them from being together in the physical world. But Fleur finds herself alone in the afterlife – where did Chan go? Fast-forward five decades, and a ghostly Fleur returns to solve the mystery and her broken heart.

Winner of six Hong Kong film awards, Rouge is made all the more tragic due to the untimely deaths in 2003 of its still young, romantic leads, Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung.