The unadorned, pre-institutional storytelling makes for a far more compelling viewing than Tian Zhuangzhuang's 2002 glossy remake.

Full of subtle erotic tension, the 1948 drama focuses close up on Yuwen (Wei Wei), a frustrated, exquisitely beautiful housewife whose husband Liyan (Shi Yu) is invalided by tuberculosis and the traumatic effects of the Sino-Japanese war.

There is an eerie, ghostly quality to Fei Wu's classic 1948 melodrama.

Passion hits the brick wall of decency in Fei Mu's 1948 masterpiece...