"Curse of the Golden Flower is a fictionalized account of the decadent, corrupt court life of the later Tang Dynasty, in the 10th century, a time when royals lived amid settings of ornate extravagance. As the Chong Yang Festival approaches, yellow chrysanthemums - the golden flowers - fill the immense fortified courtyard fronting the vast staircase leading up to the Imperial Palace. Unexpectedly, the emperor (Chow Yun Fat) and his second son, Prince Jai (Jay Chou) return from fighting Mongol invaders along the country's northern border, ostensibly to celebrate the upcoming holiday with family, which includes the emperor's eldest son, Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), the son of the emperor's first wife, and the emperor's youngest son, the teenage Prince Yu (Qin Junjie). However, relations between the emperor and the empress (Gong Li ) are clearly strained, and the empress' health is failing. The movie wallows in the rotting marriage of this cruel emperor and his secretive wife: a union so corrupt that each is plotting the other's annihilation." (LA Times) More at sonyclassics.com/curseofthegoldenflower
2006, color, 1 hour 54 minutes, Hong Kong/China
