NextFilm

A Familiar Stranger (2022)

虚颜

Shi Qi is a talented and good-natured artist who, during one of her painting assignments, learns of an affair between the chancellor’s cruel and exploitative daughter, Shen Qin, and the ruler of the realm, King Ning. Shen Qin, however, is engaged in marrying the powerful general Xiao Han Sheng. But when Shi Qi accidentally witnesses deadly and nefarious goings-on at the court, she finds herself drawn into trouble. Shen Qin devises a way to enlist a magician to swap her face with that of Shi Qi – so that she and the painter can switch identities. As such, Shi Qi ends up engaged to Xiao Han Sheng, while Shen Qin takes up the painter’s identity. But the “real” Shi Qi has already crossed paths with Xiao Han Sheng many years ago – even though he has no idea who she truly is now.