- "During the busiest time of my career, I was shooting six films, playing six different roles. I forgot about playing myself. One day, I stood in front of the mirror, I only saw an estranged face. 'Who am I?' I asked myself. 'What do I like? What do I not like? Why am I unhappy?' I could not answer those questions. And it dawned on me that I had lost myself unknowingly." - quote from Inside and Outside the Window, Brigitte Lin's 2010 autobiography
Brigitte Lin is to 90s Wuxia cinema, much like Cheng Pei-Pei is to the 70s.
Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia (林青霞; Lín Qīngxiá, born 3 November 1954) is a Taiwanese actress well-known for roles in 90s Hong Kong historical period swordplay films, and an icon of East Asian media with a career spanning over 45 years, mostly known for her character "The Invincible" （Dongfang Bubai) in the Swordsman trilogy and as the sultry arms dealer in Wong Kar-wai's classic, Chungking Express. Regarded as an icon of Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, her extensive roles in drama, gangster, martial arts, war, and multiple different genres have her painted as a "screen goddess", with a career spanning over 100 films and TV series.
At age 21, Lin plays a student volunteer carrying the flag for Chinese soldiers during the Sino-Japanese war in Eight Hundred Heroes; her performance in the film earns her the Best Actress award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival, and convinced Hong Kong's top directors like Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark, Wong Kar-wai and even Jackie Chan to cast her in movies. Her range of performances and number of movies which are box-office hits revives Taiwanese cinema of the 1970s, and arguably puts Taiwan on the map when it comes to the film-making industry.
Being one of the key components of Hong Kong's "New Wave" cinema in the 80s, Lin was often typecast as cross-dressing roles, notably in Peking Opera Blues and Ashes of Time. With wuxia cinema going through a boom, and already achieving iconic status in the Swordsman trilogy, Brigitte in the 90s would star mostly in wuxia period pieces and martial arts fantasy films, such as The Bride With White Hair, New Dragon Gate Inn, Royal Tramp, Deadful Melody, Ashes of Time and the like.
In 2010, after a career in cinema for nearly 4 decades, Brigitte released her first autobiography, Inside and Outside the Window (窗里窗外). Part of the title comes from Brigitte's debut movie, Outside the Window (窗外; adapted from the eponymous novel by Qiong Yao), where a then 19-year-old Lin started becoming popular and begin to reflect her future in a cinematic career. Incidentally, after her retirement from acting, she became a prolific author of repute.
At the 60th Golden Horse Awards in 2023, she (finally) received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Brigitte Lin's notable films:
- Outside the Window (窗外) - Her debut movie at the age of 19.
- Eight Hundred Heroes - "Yang Huimin" was the breakthrough role for the then-21 year old Brigitte. As a postscript to the role, after the actual Yang Huimin died in March 1992, Brigette attended the memorial service which was held a month later.
- The 1977 Shaw Brothers film adaptation of Dream of the Red Chamber, notable as this was Brigitte's first cross-dressing role (She played the male protagonist Jia Baoyu). Ironically, Brigitte was originally slated to portray the female protagonist Lin Daiyu. However, after a few rehearsals with Brigitte and her co-star Sylvia Chang, it quickly became obvious that with the height difference between the ladies note , it was a better idea to cast Brigitte as Jia Baoyu instead. In her autobiography, Brigitte noted the importance of this film, being her only collaboration with director Li Hanxiang, and her only work which was an adaptation of classic Chinese literature. A 17 year-old Kara Wai also portrayed the maid Sheyue in the film.
- Dream Lovers - only film she did together with Chow Yun-fat.
- Red Dust - co-starring Maggie Cheung
- Night Orchid
- Be Careful Sweetheart
- Police Story - first movie only
- Fantasy Mission Force
- Pink Force Commando
- Golden Queens Commando
- Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain
- Ashes of Time
- Peking Opera Blues
- Swordsman
- Deadful Melody
- Chungking Express
- Fire Dragon
- The Bride With White Hair
- The Black Panther Warriors
- New Dragon Inn - the 1992 remake. Also co-starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Ka-fai.
- The Royal Tramp II note (based off the classic literature The Deer and the Cauldron. Brigitte herself agreed to appear in the film due to Stephen Chow (who played the lead role of Wei Xiaobao); both thespians later praised each other's performance in the film, and the film remained their only on-screen collaboration. In the film, Stephen also paid homage to Brigitte by sneaking in a reference to Dongfang Bubai.)
Tropes relating to the performer:
- Action Girl: But only in her period dramas and the schlocky Taiwanese action movies she made with director Kevin Chu, Fantasy Mission Force, Golden Queens Commando and Pink Force Commando.
- Eye Scream: During the filming of New Dragon Inn, Brigitte, performing her own stunts, used her sword to parry a wave of arrows fired towards her. One of those arrows hit her in the left eye and left a hole in her cornea that has yet to heal even to this day. Granted, it was a blunted prop arrow, but it still hurts like hell.
- Lady in Red: Wears red in most of her period-pieces films, notably in the Swordsman trilogy, The Bride With White Hair and Fire Dragon.
- Older Than They Look: She is 65 years old in the picture above. And she could easily pass for someone in her late 30s, despite having two daughters and two grandsons.
- Prefers Going Barefoot: Goes around barefoot in many of her films, including Fantasy Mission Force, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain, Swordsman (in all 3 movies), The Bride With White Hair, Ashes of Time, and a few others. She tends to remove her shoes when attending interviews in real-life, too.
- Unknown Rival: Downplayed example. Sylvia Chang claimed in a 2018 interview
that the director of Eight Hundred Heroes, Ding Shanxi, had called her and offered her the lead role of "Yang Huimin" (the role which eventually went to Lin). However, Ding's two deputy directors favored Lin and advised her to learn swimming (without letting her know that it was crucial for a role). The two deputy directors then approached Ding and in his presence praised Lin's efforts in learning to swim. In the final casting, Lin became the female lead, while Chang was relegated to a cameo role. While disappointed, Chang also claimed to have no ill-will towards Lin. Indeed, soon after, the pair would collaborate in the 1977 Shaw Brothers film adaptation of Dream Of The Red Chamber as Jia Baoyu (Lin) and Lin Daiyu (Chang). - Wholesome Crossdresser: A lot of her roles in the 1990s have her playing men, ever since Peking Opera Blues. Of course, she started way back in 1977 with that year's film adaptation of Dream Of The Red Chamber.
- Wuxia: Most of her films in the 1990s.
