Histrionics of a Hong Kong migrant: Shu Qi’s transnational performance style in A Beautiful Life

ABSTRACT This article examines Taiwanese actress Shu Qi’s theatrical mode of performance in Andrew Lau’s film, A Beautiful Life/Mei Li Ren Sheng (2011), as a way of trying to understand the diverse nature of Shu’s transnational stardom. Through a textual analysis of pivotal scenes from the film, the article argues that Shu’s virtuoso performance highlights a transnational acting style that challenges cultural understandings of acting in Chinese-language cinemas built around minimalism, thus suggesting the need for a reappraisal of what constitutes a ‘good’ screen performance in the East Asian region. Shu’s exaggerated performance style ultimately influences the performance delivery of her co-star, mainland Chinese actor Liu Ye. The emerging interplay between Shu’s and Liu’s acting techniques showcases the regional and transnational potential of Chinese film acting that exploits the energetic and corporeal registers of performance. In place of a minimalist acting style that focuses upon limited bodily movement and emotional restraint, the delineation of the somatic aspects of Shu’s performance, and a critical recognition of the presentational and expressive features of her voice, actions, and gestures, contributes to a more multilayered and exploratory understanding of East Asian and transnational film performance.