The Dream of the Red Chamber (Traditional Chinese: éÂÂçÂÂè¯緣素æ¨Â夢; Simplified Chinese: éÂÂçÂÂè¯ç¼Â红楼梦) is a 1977 film adaptation of the 18th-Century Chinese novel by Cao Xueqin with the same name. It stars Brigitte Lin as protagonist Jia Baoyu, and Sylvia Chang as his cousin Lin Daiyu. The film is told in the style of Huangmei Opera, and follows the style's tradition of cross-gender acting, where a female actor portrays a male character. This is the second adaptation of the novel from the Shaw Brothers, the first being Dream of the Red Chamber (1963) starring Betty Loh Ti.
The film was nominated for two categories at the 15th Golden Horse Awards, and won Best Art Direction.
In Qing Dynasty China, the Jia family receives the frail adolescent Lin Daiyu after her mother passes away. She meets her cousin Baoyu, the heir of the Jia family, who instantly takes a liking towards her. They spend their childhood around each other and form a close bond, often reading literature and reciting poetry together. As they grow older, Baoyu starts flirting with Daiyu.
Years later, their other cousin, Xue Baochai, arrives to live with them. She catches Baoyu's attention with her knowledge of weiqi, which causes Daiyu to feel jealous, marking the start of her spiral into melancholia. Baoyu assures Daiyu that his feelings towards her hasn't changed despite spending time with Baochai.
Baoyu has a strained relationship with his father, Jia Zheng, who expects him to study hard and pass his exams to become a government official. When he aids the escape of the prince's favourite actor, Jia Zheng is pressured to find him, as to avoid unnecessary troubles with the prince. Because of that, Baoyu is beaten by his father, but being the beloved and spoiled young master of the family, the servants, Lady Wang, and Grandmother Jia come to his rescue. While recovering from his injuries, Baochai visits and scolds him for befriending an actor, to his displeasure. In contrast, Daiyu's visit was brief yet marked with tears and affection.
Daiyu's spiral continues when she sees Baochai leaving Baoyu's residence one night. She decides to ignore Baoyu, who seeks her out and reassures her of his feelings. Unconvinced, she continues to avoid him.
When Baoyu tries to visit Daiyu one day, her maid, Zijuan, plays a prank on him. She convinces him that Daiyu is moving out, which triggers a manic breakdown, and he demands Grandmother Jia to not let Daiyu leave. She complies, though later plots with Lady Wang and Xifeng to marry him to Baochai, but trick him into thinking he was marrying Daiyu. They justify that their act was to help cure Baoyu's madness, and to continue the Jia bloodline as Daiyu is too frail to give birth, while Baochai is well-endowed to bear children.
Despite instructed to keep it a secret, a maid tells Daiyu about the wedding, which further worsens her physical and mental health. Back in her residence, she reminisces their love and grieves tearfully, finally succumbing to her illness when she hears the wedding banquet echoing across the mansion.
At the wedding, Baoyu playfully lifts his new bride's veil, and is devastated to find Baochai behind it. He cries and begs his elders to allow him and Daiyu to be together, but is cut short when the news of Daiyu's death reaches the main house. At Daiyu's funeral, the only attendees are Zijuan and Baoyu, the latter mourning her death, his laments full of loss and regret, intertwined with declarations of love.
At dawn, palace officials arrive to deliver the emperor's decree. Jia Zheng is removed from his government post, and the Jia family's assets are confiscated for his inability to retain the emperor's trust. Baoyu leaves the Jia mansion and becomes a Buddhist monk.
Director Li Han-hsiang initially approached Brigitte Lin for the role of Lin Daiyu, after seeing her in period costume. Sylvia Chang was initially cast as Jia Baoyu, but swapped roles with Lin when Li saw the latter "...walking down a hallway in jeans and a striped shirt, looking down, and was inspired to recast her, feeling she had the look of a classic scholarly, handsome man.". Additionally, Lin was several inches taller than Chang, further convincing Li to recast Lin as Baoyu instead.
The film's soundtrack was arranged and conducted by Ichirà  Saità Â, and composed by Wang Fu-ling. Song Yu and Xiang Zi wrote the lyrics. Actress and Huangmei Opera singer Chien Yung-Yung (容èÂÂ) provided the vocals for Lin's Jia Baoyu, and singer Liu Yun (Ã¥ÂÂéµ) for Chang's Lin Daiyu. The tracks contain spoken dialogue from the film. A studio recording version was released in 2005. Several tracks on the studio album were not present in the film version, indicating that the scenes were either not shot, or cut from the final edit.
The vinyl was released in 1977 under EMI (Hong Kong) Limited in Hong Kong, while the CD was released in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong in the late 1980s.
Writing for Far East Films, Rob Danial gave the film a 3/5 rating, observing that the film is a visually lush but narratively unbalanced remake of the QingâÂÂperiod classic. Director Li HanâÂÂhsiang relies heavily on luxuriant visualsâÂÂthe eternally falling flowers, lavish period sets, and colourâÂÂenhanced cinematography are reminiscent of an operatic dreamworld. This sensory richness elevates otherwise thin dramatic material, but the filmâÂÂs focus on the central romantic triangle comes at the cost of sidelining the novelâÂÂs broader tapestry of characters and social nuance. As the Far East Films review notes, the âÂÂslender story ⦠seems to have little substance to lose,â and LiâÂÂs staging can feel static, with frequent wide shots and overused zooms that dampen emotional immediacy.
Elizabeth Kerr from The Hollywood Reporter notes that Brigitte Lin's career-launching turn in the 1977 Shaw Brothers film version of The Dream of the Red Chamber was the starting point of her cultishly iconic gender-bending reputation in films. As the sensitive male hero Jia Baoyu, Lin brought the character a mix of youthful uncertainty and emotional complexity that would become a signature of her career. In spite of the movie's streamlined storyline and stylized musical treatment, Lin's performance was both bold and subtle, hinting at the command and presence she would develop later in classics such as Peking Opera Blues and Ashes of Time. Her strong presence brought the film above its melodramatic origins to make her a cultural icon who defied gender conventions with elegance and strength.
EasternKicks Stephen Palmer gave the film a 2.5/5 rating, praising the film's aesthetics, but doubted the musical drama's ability to capture the interest of casual viewers and western audiences due to its cultural nuances, Huangmei Opera style performance, and reliance on the audience having prior knowledge of the novel's story. He gave praise to both Brigitte Lin and Sylvia Chang's performance, and commended director Li Han-hsiang's filming style and the film's art direction, comparing its colours to silk screen painting.