{ "id": "ephryb1p9r", "slug": "lost-in-the-stars", "title": "Lost in the Stars (消失的她)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2023-2024-films", "label": "2023–2024 films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2023-2024-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "China · 2021 and later: Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021", "label": "China · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Lost in the Stars (消失的她) is a 2023 Chinese suspense crime film by Chen Sicheng, directed by Cui Rui and Liu Xiang, starring Zhu Yilong and Ni Ni; a remake of the Soviet Trap for a Lonely Man that grossed 3.523 billion yuan.", "snippet": "Lost in the Stars (消失的她) is a 2023 Chinese suspense crime film by Chen Sicheng, directed by Cui Rui and Liu Xiang, starring Zhu Yilong and Ni Ni; a remake of the Soviet Trap for a Lonely Man that grossed 3.523 billion yuan.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2023-2024-films", "markdown": "# Lost in the Stars (消失的她)\n\n**Lost in the Stars** (消失的她) is a 2023 Chinese suspense crime film directed by Cui Rui (崔睿) and Liu Xiang, written by Chen Sicheng and Gu Shuyi and produced by Chen Sicheng, and starring Zhu Yilong, Ni Ni, Janice Man (文咏珊), and Du Jiang. It follows He Fei, a man whose wife Li Muzi vanishes during their wedding-anniversary trip to a Southeast Asian island, and who insists that the woman who then appears claiming to be her is an impostor. Officially a remake of the 1990 Soviet film *Trap for a Lonely Man*, it became one of the highest-grossing Chinese films ever with 3.523 billion yuan at the mainland box office, while its Douban rating fell from an opening 7.5 to 6.2 amid criticism of its plot logic and its handling of gender themes.[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/35660795/?dt_dapp=1) • [2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2024/0429/28194167.html) • [3](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/movie/1452790)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | Premiered 25 December 2022 at the Hainan Island International Film Festival; mainland theatrical release 22 June 2023[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/35660795/?dt_dapp=1) |\n| Credits | Directed by Cui Rui and Liu Xiang; written by Chen Sicheng and Gu Shuyi; produced by Chen Sicheng[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/35660795/?dt_dapp=1) • [4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-in-the-Stars-%282023-China%29) |\n| Source | Official remake of the 1990 Soviet film *Trap for a Lonely Man* (为单身汉设下的陷阱)[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2024/0429/28194167.html) |\n| Mainland box office | 3.523 billion yuan total; 159 million on opening day; 698 million in the first week[3](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/movie/1452790) |\n| Records | 2023 Dragon Boat Festival champion with 507 million yuan (55.7% festival share); surpassed *Sheep Without a Shepherd* (1.333 billion) as the highest-grossing domestic crime film; 4th place on the 2023 mainland yearly chart[5](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2023-07-04/2901996.html) • [6](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/8R22LG7UF0D) • [2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2024/0429/28194167.html) |\n| Ratings | Douban opened at 7.5 and settled at 6.2 from 971,268 users; Maoyan audience score 9.2 from 1.01 million raters; IMDb 6.5[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/35660795/?dt_dapp=1) • [3](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/movie/1452790) |\n| Audience profile | 77.5% of Maoyan \"want to see\" users were women; fourth-tier cities accounted for 37.5% of that demand[3](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/movie/1452790) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nHe Fei (Zhu Yilong) reports that his wife Li Muzi disappeared during their wedding-anniversary trip to a Southeast Asian island. After days of fruitless searching, he wakes from a drunken night to find a stranger (Janice Man) beside him who claims to be Li Muzi, and her identity documents, phone photos, surveillance footage, and nearby staff all seem to confirm it. He Fei insists she is an impostor and hires the undefeated lawyer Chen Mai ([Ni Ni](https://www.edgepedia.org/ni-ni)).[7](https://news.ifeng.com/c/8QzRptX23Nh) • [8](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230706/44b3fbfe81054d7cba5e501ed70737d5/c.html)\n\nThe investigation appears to expose a criminal gang that impersonates wealthy people's relatives to seize inheritances, but He Fei's own account frays under Chen Mai's questioning. After an ambush on the way to the police station, He Fei is committed to a psychiatric hospital and faces forced brain surgery; to save himself he reveals where his wife is, exposing himself as her murderer. The final reversal shows that the hospital was a set: Chen Mai is in fact Shen Man, a theater director and Li Muzi's closest friend, and the fake wife, the police officer, and the hitman were all actors she hired to trap He Fei into confessing.[9](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0706/c419388-40029234.html)\n\nThe film uses a play-within-a-play structure in which the staged reality occupies nearly the whole running time, returning to the actual present only in the final minutes before the full reversal.[10](https://m.1905.com/m/news/vivo/1630453.shtml?isNews=1&showComments=0) Its visual design departs from the gray-black palette typical of the genre with saturated blues, greens, and reds, and a recurring \"undersea starry sky\" scene echoing Van Gogh's *[The Starry Night](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-starry-night)* serves as the symbol of Li Muzi's love.[10](https://m.1905.com/m/news/vivo/1630453.shtml?isNews=1&showComments=0) • [8](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230706/44b3fbfe81054d7cba5e501ed70737d5/c.html)\n\n## Adaptation sources\n\nThe officially confirmed remake source is *Trap for a Lonely Man* (Ловушка для одинокого мужчины), a 1990 Soviet film directed by Aleksey Korenev. That film adapted a French stage play of the 1960s, which in turn inspired the 1986 American television movie *Vanishing Act*, broadcast in China on *Zhengda Theater*; several Chinese viewers recognized shared plot beats.[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2024/0429/28194167.html) • [11](https://www.yicai.com/news/101798895.html) All three versions share the core storyline of a husband who kills his wife over gambling debts, disguises the murder as a disappearance to claim her property, and is undone by a second party; in the originals that party is the police, while in *Lost in the Stars* it is a revenge alliance of the victim's best friend and her friends.[11](https://www.yicai.com/news/101798895.html)\n\nChen Sicheng said he had not seen the Soviet original; the overlap was noticed by others during development, and the remake rights were purchased to avoid legal disputes. The two earlier films carry comic elements, while *Lost in the Stars* leans toward thriller atmosphere and adds the best friend who drives the reversal, a device critics compared to the 2017 Spanish film *The Invisible Guest*.[11](https://www.yicai.com/news/101798895.html) • [2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2024/0429/28194167.html)\n\nThe film also drew on a real case. It obtained authorization from the victim of the June 2019 incident in Thailand's Pha Taem National Park in which a pregnant Chinese woman was pushed off a cliff by her husband. In the real case the husband was a gambler with debts the victim repeatedly repaid, had bought an insurance policy naming himself as beneficiary shortly before the attack, and acted knowing his wife was pregnant.[11](https://www.yicai.com/news/101798895.html) • [12](https://www.dianyingjie.com.cn/2023/0729/368587.shtml)\n\n## Production and release\n\nThe film was produced by Chen Sicheng's Beijing-based As One Production, with [Alibaba Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/alibaba-pictures) as the other main financier, and was filmed on [Hainan Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/hainan-island) among other locations. It closed the Hainan International Film Festival in December 2022 and played in competition at the Beijing International Film Festival in April 2023, where it received a Tiantan Award Best Film nomination; Ni Ni later received a Best Actress nomination at the 37th Hundred Flowers Awards.[13](https://www.screendaily.com/news/blossoms-entertainment-locks-pan-asia-cis-releases-for-breakout-hit-lost-in-the-stars-exclusive/5184294.article) • [1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/35660795/?dt_dapp=1)\n\nOverseas releases followed the mainland opening: Australia on 6 July 2023, New Zealand on 13 July, the United Kingdom on 14 July, and Russia and the CIS on 12 October, with Blossoms Entertainment securing a pan-Asian and CIS rollout.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-in-the-Stars-%282023-China%29) • [13](https://www.screendaily.com/news/blossoms-entertainment-locks-pan-asia-cis-releases-for-breakout-hit-lost-in-the-stars-exclusive/5184294.article)\n\n## Box office\n\nPre-release forecasts were modest: Maoyan's initial prediction was 755 million yuan, with media estimates between 750 million and 980 million.[5](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2023-07-04/2901996.html) The film instead opened at 159 million yuan, took the [Dragon Boat Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/dragon-boat-festival) crown with 507 million yuan and a 55.7% festival share, and showed sustained day-over-day gains, with its screening share rising from 34.3% on opening day past 50% by day seven.[3](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/movie/1452790) • [5](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2023-07-04/2901996.html) By 2 July, ten days after release, it had passed 2.2 billion yuan, becoming the 30th film in Chinese box office history to cross 2 billion.[8](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230706/44b3fbfe81054d7cba5e501ed70737d5/c.html) On 30 June it passed *Sheep Without a Shepherd*'s 1.333 billion yuan to become the highest-grossing domestic crime film, and it finished at 3.523 billion yuan, fourth on the 2023 mainland yearly chart behind *Full River Red* (4.54 billion) and *The Wandering Earth 2* (4.029 billion).[6](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/8R22LG7UF0D) • [3](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/movie/1452790) • [14](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23735129) The Numbers records worldwide gross of $515,820,549, of which $513.93 million came from China.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-in-the-Stars-%282023-China%29)\n\nMarketing was a major driver: in its first 12 days the film ran more than 800 marketing events across social platforms, and its official Douyin account reached over 1.91 million followers with 14.427 billion cumulative topic plays.[14](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23735129) • [15](https://pdf.hanspub.org/jc2024126_63040728.pdf)\n\n## Reception and controversy\n\nThe film's commercial run coincided with a steady decline in critical scores, a pattern industry media described as \"being scolded while making money.\" Douban opened at 7.5 and fell to 6.5 within two weeks, eventually settling at 6.2, while Maoyan's audience score stood at 9.2.[5](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2023-07-04/2901996.html) • [1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/35660795/?dt_dapp=1) • [3](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/movie/1452790)\n\n**Criticized plot logic.** Viewers pointed out that He Fei could have contacted friends for photos of his wife or asked the embassy to compare entry photos, and that Shen Man, once she suspected Li Muzi had come to harm, could simply have gone to the police or the embassy rather than staging an elaborate play.[8](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230706/44b3fbfe81054d7cba5e501ed70737d5/c.html)\n\n**Gender themes.** The film's marketing around \"anti-love-brain\" messages and female solidarity drew a divided response. Director Cui Rui said in interviews that the film explores trust, sincerity, and self-protection in relationships between men and women and affirms women's strength and mutual aid.[16](https://m.fx361.com/news/2024/0511/23832750.html) Critics argued otherwise: the account \"Su Nü Lao Wang\" called the female perspective a screen for an explicitly male film, and other commentators wrote that the film stitches together trending topics such as \"love brain,\" \"girls helping girls,\" and fear of marriage while offering no real reflection on women's plight, with the drowned wife serving as an aesthetic prop.[17](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9654666.html) • [11](https://www.yicai.com/news/101798895.html) A Xinhua-linked commentary argued the film sells feminism as a marketing point while consuming women, and that its deeper anxiety is about class decline rather than gender.[18](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20241108/651e767d0a1a4a6fb0796d3c8fa1eefc/c.html)\n\n**Genre assessment.** [Professional](https://www.edgepedia.org/professional) reviews generally rated the genre craft highly: the Beijing Normal University scholars Zhou Xing and Zhang Meng praised its layered reversals and high-saturation visual language, and the critic Wang Jinzhi described its suspense narrative as fluent and polished while noting that its borrowing from *Vanishing Act* and *Trap for a Lonely Man* was evident.[10](https://m.1905.com/m/news/vivo/1630453.shtml?isNews=1&showComments=0) • [9](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0706/c419388-40029234.html) Others judged it a competent commercial genre piece with template-like traces, simplified characterization, and a score that lagged mature suspense films.[5](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2023-07-04/2901996.html) The film's success was widely read as confirmation of the \"Chen Sicheng model\": Southeast Asian settings, star casts, and stacked reversals, following the *Detective Chinatown* and *Sheep Without a Shepherd* series, and its 3.5-billion-plus total broke the record his own *Sheep Without a Shepherd* had set in 2019.[11](https://www.yicai.com/news/101798895.html) • [8](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230706/44b3fbfe81054d7cba5e501ed70737d5/c.html)\n\n## References\n\n1. [消失的她 (2022), Douban](https://movie.douban.com/subject/35660795/?dt_dapp=1)\n2. [《消失的她》, 中国银幕, 2024年第4期 (参考网)](https://m.fx361.com/news/2024/0429/28194167.html)\n3. [消失的她, 猫眼专业版](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/movie/1452790)\n4. [Lost in the Stars (消失的她) (2023) – Box Office, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-in-the-Stars-%282023-China%29)\n5. [《消失的她》，并不适合\"她\"看, 每日经济新闻, 2023-07-04](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2023-07-04/2901996.html)\n6. [《消失的她》成为中国影史国产犯罪片票房冠军, 凤凰网娱乐, 2023-06-30](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/8R22LG7UF0D)\n7. [《消失的她》票房口碑割裂，陈思诚的\"悬疑创作模式\"能走多远, 红星新闻/凤凰网, 2023-06-28](https://news.ifeng.com/c/8QzRptX23Nh)\n8. [电影《消失的她》因何破圈？, 新华网转每日新报, 2023-07-06](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230706/44b3fbfe81054d7cba5e501ed70737d5/c.html)\n9. [《消失的她》：悬疑类型叙事及其不满, 中国作家网, 2023-07-06](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0706/c419388-40029234.html)\n10. [北师大教授评《消失的她》：悬疑与反转的诱惑构造, 1905电影网, 2023-06-27](https://m.1905.com/m/news/vivo/1630453.shtml?isNews=1&showComments=0)\n11. [《消失的她》一骑绝尘，暑期档已经创造53.6亿票房, 第一财经, 2023-07-04](https://www.yicai.com/news/101798895.html)\n12. [《消失的她》：人生何以此生不二之死靡他, 电影界, 2023-07-29](https://www.dianyingjie.com.cn/2023/0729/368587.shtml)\n13. [Blossoms Entertainment locks pan-Asia, CIS releases for breakout hit 'Lost In The Stars', Screen Daily, 2023-07-21](https://www.screendaily.com/news/blossoms-entertainment-locks-pan-asia-cis-releases-for-breakout-hit-lost-in-the-stars-exclusive/5184294.article)\n14. [《消失的她》票房破25亿：800个营销事件点燃大众情绪, 澎湃新闻·湃客, 2023-07](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23735129)\n15. [5A模型视角下电影《消失的她》的新媒体营销传播策略研究, Hans Publishers, 2024](https://pdf.hanspub.org/jc2024126_63040728.pdf)\n16. [女性主义视角下影片《消失的她》的文本解读, 参考网, 2024-05-11](https://m.fx361.com/news/2024/0511/23832750.html)\n17. [尽显男性自我，爱情想象贫瘠：《消失的她》为何令人不适？, 界面新闻·文化, 2023-07](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9654666.html)\n18. [评《逆行人生》《消失的她》等影片, 新华网, 2024-11-08](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20241108/651e767d0a1a4a6fb0796d3c8fa1eefc/c.html)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2023–2024 films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/lost-in-the-stars", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/lost-in-the-stars.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Lost in the Stars (消失的她)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lost-in-the-stars. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Lost in the Stars (消失的她)](https://www.edgepedia.org/lost-in-the-stars)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/lost-in-the-stars](https://www.edgepedia.org/lost-in-the-stars). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Lost in the Stars (消失的她)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lost-in-the-stars. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Lost in the Stars is a 2023 Chinese suspense crime film by Chen Sicheng, directed by Cui Rui and Liu Xiang, starring Zhu Yilong and Ni Ni; a remake of the Soviet Trap for a Lonely Man that grossed 3.523 billion yuan." }