A painful role for Rui En

SINGAPORE — Rui En was down in the dumps while filming for the new drama Against The Tide, which debuts tomorrow — so much so that it was a relief for her to say goodbye to her character.

In the crime thriller, she plays a psychologist, Qiu Xueqin, who identifies with her disturbed patients and later finds herself in over her head when she teams up with the police and a crime novelist, played by Christopher Lee, to investigate a series of copycat crimes.

“It was not an enjoyable three months. I can’t say I was a very happy trooper during this shoot, simply because the material is very dark and every day, if it’s not (about) killing someone, it’s a crime scene,” Rui En said.

But it wasn’t the violent scenes that taxed her; it was the fact that she faced “a lot of internal struggle”. “That takes a lot out of you. It drains you emotionally.”

Did the show affect her mood when she wasn’t working? “I tried not to (let it show), but I’m sure it did, yeah,” she said. But nobody around her remarked on it because “they don’t dare”.

Besides the intensity of the role, it was also the first time Rui En played “an angel who becomes a devil”. “That was a very, very big challenge because it’s not as simple as, oh, in the first episode, she’s already bad — there is a gradual process and there are a lot of contributing factors. And for me, the main thing was to make it believable and real, rather than just a plot device.”

Her police detective role in Unriddle 2 remains her most intense, but playing Xueqin comes a close second. “It was a relief for me to be able to let go of this role. For Unriddle 2, it was a little harder (to let go) — there was a bit of lingering depression. But this time, maybe because I have a little more experience and I found, well, religion — that helped a lot,” she said.

Having to work on another drama, Life Is Beautiful (she plays upbeat kidney patient Shen Chu Yi) also helped. “That was a huge relief because it’s a very ‘sunshine’ role and my character had a very sunny disposition,” she said. “I was looking forward to it because I knew it would be a lot easier for me.” That series is slated to air next year.

Catch Against The Tide starting Sept 24, weekdays at 9pm on MediaCorp TV Channel 8.