--- a/mercurial/context.py
+++ b/mercurial/context.py
@@ -151,7 +151,10 @@ class filectx(object):
                 if '_fileid' in self.__dict__:
                     self._filenode = self._filelog.lookup(self._fileid)
                 else:
-                    self._filenode = self._changectx.filenode(self._path)
+                    try:
+                        self._filenode = self._changectx.filenode(self._path)
+                    except:
+                        self._filenode = self._filerev = None
             except revlog.RevlogError, inst:
                 raise repo.LookupError(str(inst))
             return self._filenode
@@ -162,7 +165,7 @@ class filectx(object):
             raise AttributeError, name
 
     def __nonzero__(self):
-        return self._filerev != nullid
+        return self._filenode != None
 
     def __str__(self):
         return "%s@%s" % (self.path(), short(self.node()))