Curse of the Golden Flower is the latest film by Chinese director Zhang Yimou. A historical fiction story, it is set in 10th century China under the rule of Emperor Ping of the Tang dynasty [1]. The Emperor, of course, is all powerful and is shown to demand absolute obedience and compliance to his wishes. This extends to his family - the Empress, who is his second wife and three sons from his apparently long-deceased first wife. The Empress dares to speak her mind occasionally and in return, he tortures her subtly, by prescribing a medicine she has to take every two hours, every day. She has been taking this medicine for the past ten years, but now, the Emperor has had enough and secretly orders a new ingredient also be added to the medicine, which will ensure she will lose her mind in a month. The sons are in awe and obedient to him, but one of them has just returned to the palace after being banished to the border for three years for something he "wanted to take by force", and on learning of the vile potion, vows to save his step-mother. What follows is a sordid tale of jealousy, incest, murder, doomed "revolution" and fatal redemption. All this happens in the midst of immense wealth and splendor. In the special features, the director tells of a Chinese saying "Gold and jade on the outside, rot and decay on the inside". Gong Li is superb in her portrayal of the Empress who suffers the repression in spite and because of her position and is driven to desperate rebellion. The character is greatly victimized, but is not without faults of her own. The cherubic Cho-Yun Fat is transformed, both by the makeup and costumes and his own acting, into the regal, sadistic Emperor. The character also shows fleeting glimpses of humane feeling but his heart is far too blackened for redemption.
I have seen two of Zhang Yimou's earlier movies, Hero and The House of Flying Daggers, both featuring the fantastic wuxia martial arts. All these movies involve complex characters and story lines, but the most striking features are the flamboyant use of color and scale. Imagine this: colossal, elevated palace with hundreds of wide steps, acres of land separating the palace from the gates, blanketed with yellow chrysanthemum blooms in small pots. An army of ten thousand, all clad in gold, come trampling over the flowers to attack the palace, only to be faced with an even bigger army in shimmering silver. The golden army gets killed to the last man, the bodies are dragged away and the chrysanthemum pots are all replaced by the royal servants, with everything looking as before(in Hero, similar palace and an army of thousands of soldiers clad in black armor, running up those steps in huddles).
The costumes of the Emperor and Empress are grand and elaborate, and very intricately so. The colors used for the insides of the palace, and in Hero and The House of Flying Daggers, the colors of the costumes themselves and the outdoor locales are breath-taking. And there are so many other things that I am amazed by in all three movies that I wish I could control adjectives better.
[1] Ping and the story are fictional. The Tang dynasty did exist and at its zenith, was apparently the most powerful empire in the world.
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5 comments:
Great movie, I agree and a nice review too! :-) I want to add that under the facade of power and authority, the Emperor is also in pain - he must control everyone including his wife and children whom he loves even if it is at the cost of hurting and losing them. Because otherwise, in their greed or stupidity they might threaten him. He cannot stand that and is ever-suspicious. Like the director says "That is his fate. The higher you go, the lonelier you are". Chow Yun Fat potrays the Emperor's frustration brilliantly.
People who have not see any one of these movies cannot imagine the extent of amazement that you describe. I luckily saw 'Hero'. Now I know what you are talking about.
I guess chinese people are more psychologically developed from rest of the world in fighting. There was one fighting scene in Hero where two equally powerful combatants only stand still some feet apart looking seriously into each others eyes and there is a old man playing some of those chinese music piece we hear in authentic restaurants. I could not bear that most unenthuisatic music during the fight. The fight was going on in the mind even though physically the combatants do not move. Wow! what a great technique! Fighting in thoughts and bending each others will. Great. I cannot imagine indian movies can reach this level in the next decade.
ahhahah
Nice review. I liked the description of collosal palace the the gates.
Roc
@Sam: Yes, in the end the Emperor is a miserable wretch himself, one who can't help but be wicked. I want to express a bit of qualified sympathy for him, but can't find the words...I tried and see what it ended up like above :).
@Roc: Yeah man, that fight sequence in Hero is stressful for viewers, like come on do something you two, at least kill the goddamn old guy and stop his music! The way you put it - bending of wills, I feel like I've understood that scene only now .
"She has been taking this medicine for the past ten years, but now, the Emperor has had enough and secretly orders...."
Nice :)
daddy said
description of events is very good.
It appears, the emperor was very cruel as he used to administer small doses of poison to his wife daily and she simply obeys the orders. Really, unfortunate na. Your narration and the language used are simply good. Keep it up.
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