Renowned painter Wong Chau-pak (Patrick Tse Yin) returns to Hong Kong from Paris after three years away but finds his love Kwong Ji-ping (Nam Hung) has gone. The pair had met and dated only six months before Wong went to Paris but they lost touch and cannot reunite as once hoped. After much drinking and crying Wong passes out, only to wake up in bed with nurse Kwong Ji-ching (Nam Hung again) tending to him. Spotting the likeness to Ji-ping, Wong follows Ji-ching to a ramshackle hut where she lives with his old friend Ling-hon (Wu Fung). The woman is Ji-ping’s younger sister, and she shows Wong his ex-partner’s grave.
With extensive backtracking, Tear-Laden Rose reveals how the situation came about. After Wong had left Hong Kong, Ji-ping started to appreciate Ling-hon’s talent and wanted to support him in marriage. As Wong now learns more of what happened, and why Ji-ping stopped writing to him, he sees the hardship Ling-hon - now a miserable alcoholic who’s lost his artistic touch - is going through. Wong decides to pull Ling-hon together again and build up a name for the unknown artist, but will another love triangle form in the process?
Chor Yuen unveils Tear-Laden Rose’s scenario with careful use of flashbacks and enlarges the scope of the story, building outstanding melodrama centred on the love triangle and turns of fate. Beyond the love and loss, the script’s contrast between the two painters - one successful and the other barely breaking even - is a major component for much of the movie. Society is depicted as unfair to artists, among whom true geniuses may never gain recognition or may even lay down their paintbrushes in despair. Actors Patrick Tse Yin, Nam Hung and Wu Fung all bring the emotional script to life with a set of polished and ultimately uplifting performances.
Tim Youngs