Along the banks of the Suzhou River, Marda falls in love with a young woman named Moudan. When he loses her in an attempted kidnapping gone wrong, she seems to disappear into the river forever—until he meets MeiMei, a woman who performs in a nightclub and who happens to look exactly like Moudan.

Now dazzlingly restored, Lou Ye’s seductive neo-noir casts a mysterious spell over Shanghai, where industrialization and myths dreamily collide. Echoes of Vertigo ricochet through this love story, an urban fairytale haunted by wandering city slickers, beautiful lookalikes, and shimmering mermaids.