Curse of the Golden Flower

Director: Yimou Zhang

Starring: Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Dahong Ni, Junjie Qin

Yimou Zhang’s 2006 film Curse of the Golden Flower details the lives of the royal family in the Forbidden City during the Tang Dynasty in the 10th Century. The Emperor marries the princess of a neighbouring area and they raise two sons borne of their marriage, and one other, the eldest, from the Emperor’s previous marriage. Dealing with incest, deceit and secrecy, the Empress suffers greatly from a mysterious ailment and obsessively plots revenge when the truth is finally revealed.

This film is the most recent in a line of successes for Zhang, including the very popular and highly regarded Hero and House of Flying Daggers, and retains both the previous films’ beauty and cinematic grace. Therefore, it is not a surprise to find that this film’s awards, although not Oscars, represent multiple, significant and understandable achievements in set and costume design, such as the Art Directors Guild’s award for Excellence in Production Design, and the Costume Designers Guild award for Excellence in Costume Design for a Period Film. It also gained four separate awards at the Hong Kong Awards in 2007 out of a generous total of fourteen nominations, including Best Costume and Make-up Design and Best Art Direction; it film creates an entire new meaning to aesthetic beauty.

Curse of the Golden Flower also has a highly talented cast, including two of the biggest names in Chinese cinema, Chow Yun Fat, who recently starred alongside Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and others in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and Gong Li, whose presence is being increasingly felt in Hollywood due to roles in recent films such as Hannibal Rising, Miami Vice and Memoirs of a Geisha. It also sets the stage for relative new-comers Jay Chou, Dahong Ni, and Junjie Qin, who plays the youngest Prince in this, his first film.

This intriguing, visually stunning and action packed film will not disappoint fans of Zhang or of the genre. It is intellectual and graceful and well worth seeing.

Rachael Pilson-Wood