Stanley Kwan's ACTRESS (the original Chinese title is the name of the

actress) is a 3 hour docudrama about a heroine of 1930s films who committed

suicide after an unhappy love affair.  Kwan interviewed surviving directors

and actors who worked with her and used clips from her own films while

Maggie Cheung (star of Jackie Chan movies) reenacts the events of the

times--Japanese invasion, political upheaval at home, etc.  I believe--it's

hard to get a grasp of all this unfamiliar material on one look--that one

actress friend of the star is interviewed and portrayed in her youth by

another actress--she may also appear in the film clips.