Review: Curse of the Golden Flower

Set in China’s Tang dynasty, where surface-level happiness within the royal household, hides a whole family of rotten apples. The Emperor (Chow Yun-Fat- a masterstroke of casting, the guy is 100% commanding screen presence) presents an image of integrity and majesty, but is secretly (and slowly) poisoning his estranged wife Empress Gong Li (who wears gold-tinged lipstick!), who in turn is carrying on an affair with stepson the Crown Prince (whom she sees as the heir to the throne), and is also slowly going mad from the poison. The easily-manipulated stepson, devoted to his mother (who might have devious plans of her own) is however, in love with the daughter (Li Man) of his mother’s doctor. And unlike his brothers, he has no designs on the throne whatsoever. Jay Chou (a pop idol, and really quite good here) is the middle child, a well-meaning sort, and dutiful soldier who has just returned from battle, attempting to prove his worthiness. Youngest child Qin Junjie, just sulks in the corner, largely forgotten by most everyone. Needless to say, the walls are gonna start crumbling big-time, as everyone also has to prepare for the upcoming Chrysanthemum Festival.

 

2006 Zhang Yimou (“Hero”, “House of Flying Daggers”) mixture of wuxia and Shakespearean tragedy is the best, most opulent, and most importantly, the most evenly-paced of all the recent operatic Asian martial-arts epics. It is, perhaps the most dramatically-oriented of the lot, but unlike “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Hero”, or “House of Flying Daggers” (all of which have their positives), there’s no sagging, romantically-inclined mid-section. At just about every moment, in just about every corner of the frame, something interesting or visually appealing is going on, and not always in terms of martial arts action. And these poisonous/cursed people don’t have much time for the romantic side of things (though there is still some of that, albeit with a bitter edge), and I absolutely loved that. These are some sick, twisted, and pathetic people with way too much power in their hands. How poisonous and fucked up are they? Gong Li knows she’s being poisoned but continues to drink the poison anyway! Now that right there is positively messed up!

 

And oh, what sights we have to show you! This is perhaps the most stunningly beautiful, mouth-watering colour film I have ever seen, with the mixture of gold and ultra-bright pinks and purples used to decorate the sets signifying the opulence, and richness of the film’s setting and royal characters. It’s the best and boldest use of colour I’ve seen in a film since 1964’s “Masque of the Red Death”. The whole thing is amazingly epic in visual scope for something set predominantly indoors! It’s fascinating watching all the pomp and ceremony and daily rituals being carried out with such rhythmic precision on screen here. The music score by Shigeru Umebayashi is terrific, and full of muscle and majesty. The performances are pretty good too, most notably Gong Li (whose character is almost likeable, and certainly pitiable) and an imperious-looking Yun-Fat (in easily the best performance I’ve ever seen him deliver). The major action set-piece with everyone either wearing gold or silver armour is an absolute stunner and fast-paced stuff, and only looks slightly enhanced by computers. The melodrama is also top-notch this time (especially if you’re even vaguely acquainted with the works of Shakespeare such as “King Lear”, “Hamlet” and “The Scottish Play”).

 

With a screenplay by Wu Nan, Bian Zhihong, and the director, from a play by Cao Yu, if Douglas Sirk had directed a wuxia epic, this would be the result, except it’s even better than that sounds. Must-see, this is a work of art that also manages to tell a compelling and stirring story. Highly and shamefully underrated.

 

Rating: B