Breaking the Willow (2003)

Breaking the Willow follows two Chinese women from different eras and social classes, connected by a jeweled Phoenix pendant. Cui, a woman of modest means, divorces her husband hoping for a better life and the promise of honor when he gains a title and presents her with the Phoenix pendant. Her wish is fulfilled, but tragically, too late. Hsiao Yu, a talented singer from a fallen dynasty's royal family, falls in love with the First Scholar. The day after their wedding, he is summoned to the frontier, and the former princess wears her Phoenix pendant to see him off, composing farewell poetry.