Shu Qi mines childhood pain for Girl

Girl, which has already earned Shu Qi best director awards at the Busan International Film Festival and the Polish International Film Festival of Cinema and Cinematography, stars 18-year-old Taiwanese Bai Xiao-ying as Shu's stand-in Hsiao-lee and Taiwanese singer-actress Joanne Tang, better known as 9m88, as the teenager's mother Ajuan.

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It is powered by potent performances from the duo, especially 9m88 as a young girl who is mother to a younger girl in late-1980s Taiwan, unable to stop herself from lashing out because she has never been taught to love.

Both were cast after a prolonged search.

Shu Qi found Bai after scouring endless clips of child actresses across Taiwan, settling on her because of her deep-set eyebags.

Meanwhile, 9m88's eyes were the opposite, sparkling with passion and fire. Shu Qi was interested in how she could be broken down by the relentless plight of her character.

The 35-year-old singer-actress says filming the scenes rampant with abuse took a toll. Her body would not stop shuddering during a rape scene and there were times when she was left a wreck in the makeup room after shooting wrapped.

She adds: "At first, I thought I wouldn't be too affected because I'm playing a character, but the body reacts. I needed a change of mindset because this abuse was probably routine for the mother."

Shu Qi says there was only so much she could do to protect her cast, joking: "I could only tell her to go home and watch more Stephen Chow films."