Enter director Stanley Kwan who has been no stranger to novel adaptations (Rouge, Red Rose, White Rose, Lan Yu), popular festival director abroad but not so much anymore in Hong Kong since his sensitivity isn't the prime taste of audience in Hong Kong today (Rouge will always be a beloved classic though, much more so now since its stars Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui have both passed away). Seeing as co-productions, in particular with China, is more than ever a possibility for Hong Kong filmmakers, Everlasting Regret got backing and a mixed talent pool, including Hu Jun (Lan Yu), Tony Leung Ka-Fai (The Lover, Election), Daniel Wu (Purple Storm) and more importantly, the queen of Canto-pop, box-office and romantic comedies, the untested Sammi Cheng (Needing You, Love On A Diet). The production was hounded by the evil tabloids due to the secretive nature of Sammi's illness during filming and at the forefront was Tony Leung trying to fend off reporters. Eventually opening to lukewarm reviews and box-office, reportedly the attention took its toll on the hard working Sammi Cheng in particular who has remained a bit reclusive ever since. So now that the dust has settled, those of us with no care about gossip and more about about films, it's time for an outside viewer and one unfamiliar with the entire content of Wang Anyi's novel to examine Everlasting Regret.

Wang Qiyao (Sammi Cheng) is a student that gets noticed by photographer Mr. Cheng (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) who enters her into the Shanghai beauty pageant. She ends up as a winner as well as the object of desire for high ranking Officer Li (Hu Jun). The good life as a mistress comes to an end though as the city of Shanghai and China go through unstable times...

"When the city is no longer your city, history can turn the right man into the wrong choice"

With this quote, Stanley Kwan opens Everlasting Regret, a supposed emotional roller coaster ride through the changing times in Shanghai history. While Kwan never really has been the abstract director (he's still considered art house), he has put forth challenges of giving his audiences very little to work with initially, skillfully injecting substance in a narrative as he rolls along. Here is one of the problems with Everlasting Regret and while it may as well have to do the fact that I am an outside viewer looking in on a world I never experienced but Kwan communicates very much to himself, and not his audience.

Reading up on your basic Shanghai history certainly helps but Kwan removes (or rather censors apparently) large, bombastic political statements, hence much of the film taking place indoors or close to the living quarters of our main characters. A newsflash, noisy crowds outside windows, that's as close as we get to where we are in the turbulent timeline (outside of some helpful title cards). And this all seems to be more than enough when we're starting out as Kwan immediately plunges us into the teenage version of Wang Qiyao, her friendship with Lili (Su Yan) and the men in her life. Kwan's choice makes sense because Wang is equally to a large degree thrown head first into the glamour of life, relationships and seeing the effects of, in the case of the initial era, the war has on life. Wang unwillingly loses out on Officer Li (Hu Jun) and really never strays away from the city that nurtured her, creating a shell where only the necessities of life such as children are eventually taken care of (in an arranged manner). It was ultimate love she felt back then and it's never returned to her later. Only friendships are maintained somewhat, especially with the husband of her best friend, photographer Mr Cheng. It's up to this point that I'm satisfied as Kwan uses his distanced, understated style and delivers felt emotions.

Approaching the latter parts of the film, mainly the 1970s portion is where that understated nature beats Kwan to his knees. Characters around Wang, Cheng and Lili were a bit undefined before. Now it's downright difficult to find distinguishable traits, reasoning and sense of place in ones as Kela (Huang Jue) for instance. Wang's inner turmoil harking back to the affair with Officer Li is still the driving force but Kwan is standing in the way of us, barely letting us catch a glimpse over his shoulder and that my friends is frustrating. In that regard, I have my doubts that devotees of Wang Anyi's work is satisfied even.

The drama is a watchable one obviously, much thanks also to the great showcasing of William Cheung's (Lan Yu, Happy Together) production design. Despite little glances of the city, incredible detail has been put into every aspect of the surroundings without it being glaringly obvious that he's showing off. Same with sound, perfectly evoking the atmosphere of the times and really the technical aspects of Everlasting Regret deserves kudos in the form of awards later in 2006.

But the largest selling point has to be Sammi Cheng's performance and unavoidably you think of Stanley Kwan's other actress directing triumphs. Anita Mui in Rouge and Maggie Cheung in Center Stage need not to feel threatened but Cheng comes through with a respectable, breakthrough act in her radically different genre path taken with this movie. Capturing the alluring beauty of Wang that men fall for, being very telling when it comes to showcasing the emotional ride of hers as well as seamlessly embodying the old Wang, Cheng works better as the soft, subtle performer (which is traits tailor made for a Stanley Kwan film) but the rare 2-3 times she gets really emotional here, an inexperience surfaces that makes delivery awkward. Yet, it's a beginning hopefully for Cheng and proof that she should be invited by others to have onboard as an serious dramatic actress. Veteran Tony Leung Ka-Fai gets caught up in the distance Kwan manages to throw up on the screen but nevertheless is a reliable performer that can communicate through very little.

So Everlasting Regret is easy to respect and drool over but not for the primary reasons Stanley Kwan wants. Surely portraying Wang Anyi's novel was never going to be an easy task in the first place, especially not in close to 2 hours but his purposes are very clear and immersing up to a certain point. Then Everlasting Regret doesn't extend its hand anymore and the very low-key, epic scope and emotions barely seem to exist beyond the characters. Those more close to home may recognize these criticized elements as masterful subtle strokes, perfectly evoking the evolving times of Shanghai. Very well, this Westerner perhaps wasn't the right target audience but on the flip side, how ever sad it is to admit, I think Stanley missed his target on this one ultimately.