Adultery in 10th Century China

Like a Greek tragedy (incest! infidelity! betrayal!) with Cecil B. DeMille crowd scenes (armies of thousands!), and a Technicolor color chart, "Curse of the Golden Flower" is a dazzling costume epic, a spectacle for the eyes and for the soul.

Where the great Chinese filmmaker Yimou Zhang's previous epics - his surprise U.S. hit "Hero," and "House of Flying Daggers" - turned on dazzlingly constructed martial-arts set pieces, "Curse of the Golden Flower" offers flying ninjas and bloodied battalions trooping forth, but also, weirdly and wonderfully, has the rhythmic energy, elan and sensuality of a vintage Hollywood musical.

Set in 10th-century China, and starring 21st-century Asian box-office titans Li Gong and Yun-Fat Chow, this eye-popping masterpiece traces the nasty business between an adulterous empress (the transcendent Gong) and her murderous emperor husband (a bearded, inscrutable Chow). While they share the same palace - a vast complex of corridors and courtyards, ceremonial rooms and private quarters, all painted in translucent swirls of psychedelic hues - the two royals are very much in their respective worlds, with their own attendants, confidantes and duplicitous agendas.

And each is served by brigades of exquisitely costumed and corseted women, tapping drums and serving potions - a small army of voluptuous Late Tang Dynasty chorines.

Fundamentally, "Curse of the Golden Flower" is about power, filial and political. The empress has been carrying on a clandestine affair with her stepson, the crown prince (Ye Liu), but the emperor, knowing of the relationship, has been overseeing the long, slow poisoning of his wife. Soon, she will lose control of her senses; she is steadily becoming more sickly, prone to spasms, fevers, to incredible weakness.

Prince Jai (Jay Chou), the emperor and empress' son, returns home for the annual Chrysanthemum Festival - in theory a time of great cheer, of family bonding, of pomp and circumstance. The prince is understandably disturbed by the state of his mother's health. Meanwhile, Prince Yu (Qin Junjie), the youngest son - boyish and seemingly benign - watches from the sidelines.

The crown prince, racked with guilt and shame over the affair with his stepmother, has also fallen in love: with Chan (Man Li), a palace servant who happens to be the daughter of the imperial doctor (Dahong Ni) - the man administering the empress' poison at the behest of the emperor.

It gets trickier. Who is the crown prince's biological mother, and where might she be? And what of those black-clad swordsmen - and the lone swordswoman - swooping around the canyons, hurtling palace walls?

The costliest production in the history of Chinese cinema (and already a humongous hit in its homeland), "Curse of the Golden Flower" radiates with the opulent trappings of a royal court: gold and bejeweled robes, lavish ceremonies, ornamentation and objects not to be believed.

But the success of Zhang's film comes not just from its gold and crimson period dress and shimmering sets, not just from the choreographed rituals and combat ballets, but also from the operatic emotions conveyed by its cast. Love and hate, jealousy and vengeance, bitterness and regret, that's what beats at the heart of this magnificent film.

Credit LSJ