Curse of the Golden Flower is probably the most talked-about movie among all Chinese films released in 2006. International star Chow Yun Fat returns to Chinese cinema to team up with Gong Li in a film directed by the famed Zhang Yimou, who returns to the epic genre after Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The three big names already constitute plenty of talking points, not to mention Taiwanese top singer Jay Chou in his first costume role. The extravagant palace and the omnipresent chrysanthemums give the film its dazzling colors, creating an unprecedented visual sumptuousness that is more than just astounding.
Turning Cao Yu's famous play Thunder Storm into an epic film, Curse of the Golden Flower details a complicated dispute that encompasses both familial and political dimensions. The patriarchal Emperor Ping (Chow Yun Fat) summons his second son, Prince Jie (Jay Chou), to return to the palace after his duty in defending the border. Meanwhile, Price Xiang (Liu Ye) wants to hide his incestuous affair with his step-mother, Empress Phoenix (Gong Li). While the calculating Ping wants to slowly kill Phoenix with help from the Imperial Physician (Ni Dahong) and his daughter (Li Man), she is also trying to ally with Prince Jie to start a coup...
The film demonstrates how the hunger for power eventually distorts human nature and leads to shocking brutality. Filled with jaw-dropping fighting scenes and beautifully designed costumes and settings, it exhibits the full potential of the genre's aesthetics. Zhang Yimou uses the most exorbitant visual elements to narrate a thrilling story, in which the brightest colors come into contrast with the darkest evil acts that human beings are capable of.
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