Death of a beauty = Mei ren zhi si

The film is based on an ancient legend taking place in Southern Xinjiang three hundred years ago. Mariam and her father lived in an old mansion. One day Mariam was singing on the balcony and her cousin incidentally saw her unveiled face, which terribly scared him. What had happened to Mariam was that two years ago when her father was seriously ill, he made a will saying that Mariam would inherit all his wealth. This enraged Mariam’s stepmother, who set a fire on the house and Mariam’s face was severely disfigured. Mariam’s stepmother had since controlled the mansion. During the Corban festival, the royal family, Yunus came to visit Mariam’s father. The prince, Kaisal surprisingly found out that the veiled Mariam was the little girl that he met on a hunting five years ago. Kaisal promised that he would marry Mariam. Soon Kaisal’s father sent people to propose the marriage, which put Mariam’s father into a difficult situation. Mariam’s stepmother drove Mariam off and made their servant, Palida pretend to be the bride. The kind-hearted Palida told Kaisal the truth and poisoned herself. Kaisal was furious about what had happened and went to look for Mariam. Kaisal found Mariam eventually but Mariam jumped off the cliff as she saw Kaisal running towards her. She did not want the prince to marry her who were no longer the girl he had met. Mariam’s stepmother died in a fire and the film ends in Kaisal holding Mariam walking on the desert in the sunset.

The film is directed by a female director, Guang Chunlan. Guang also produced The Mysterious Caravan (1985), The Girl Who Wanted to Dance (1983) and so on in the Tianshan Film Studio. Throughout the 1980s, Guang made a number of films representing the rich local culture and lifestyles in Xinjiang. (3 stars - Yuxing Zhou; December 16, 2010)