Curse of the Golden Flower (2007)

Directed by: Zhang Yimou
Cast: Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Ye Liu, Dahong Ni, Junjie Qin, Man Li, Jin Chen
Released: 13/04/2007

Zhang Yimou made his name as a Fifth Generation graduate who went on to become synonymous with deeply moving, beautifully looking and elegantly told drama’s, most notably Red Sorghum (1987), Ju Dou (1990) and Raise The Red Lantern (1991) which starred Yimou’s muse Gong Li. But recently Yimou has achieved both critical and commercial success for his wushu movies Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004) with new muse Ziyi Zhang. So when Curse of the Golden Flower was announced re-teaming Yimou and Li, and reportedly leaning more toward the drama and story as well as the wireworks and actions I seemed as though this could and should be his masterpiece. What a major disappointment then that it isn’t, and in fact may well be one of Yimou’s worst films. All the glorious cinematography and colourful palette that has made his films so striking is current and accounted for. Unfortunately the action and story are awfully developed and show none of the qualities of his previous wushu efforts. One almost wonders if he has lost his drive to make these rousing epics.

To begin with the story doesn’t really develop, or show enough of the characters for the latter events to have any real emotional weight, with the obvious exception of Gong Li, who is stunning with a magnetic performance which raises this film above drivel into something watchable. Chow Yun Fat plays against type as the Emperor of this Empire. He is an evil man, whose motives are never fully explored or explained. Gong Li, is the Empress and together they have three sons, though the oldest is from the Emperor’s previous marriage. As the story develops towards it climax, we never get a sense of the place of the three sons. Gong Li’s Phoenix has a strong relationship with the two eldest, as does Ping, but the third is neglected and occasionally pops up in the corridors of the Palace. Gradually the film builds up to the Chrysanthemum festival where plots will be revealed and the Dynasty will be put in danger. All this is dealt with adequately, though not subtle or controlled in its development. Again it’s Gong Li’s mesmerising performance which keeps your interest engaged. A small number of action sequences punctuate the narrative as its builds toward it climactic end.

When that end finally arrives it’s so anti-climatic and so lacking in emotional resonance, that it’s as boring as it is uninspired. A huge battle between the two opposing forces, armies of vast numbers, directed by the man who delivered the mouth watering spectacles that graced Hero and House of Flying Daggers meant that probably the expectation had been fairly high. That the reality falls so short of the fantasy is more a discredit to Yimou’s storytelling abilities than to the visual effects, although they themselves lack the grace and brilliance of his earlier efforts. Shortly before this standoff, comes a rather well put together sequence involving ninja’s which is by far the most exhilarating and well shot action sequence in the whole film. That it pre-empts the final battles is just another sign of how much of a miss this film is.

It’s ironic that some of the subplots which feed into the central story end up being far more compelling and intriguing than the central narrative. Imperial Physician Jiang and his wife, Mrs. Jiang and daughter Jiang Chan make for a compelling group whose storyline and development would have served a much greater starting point for this story to develop. The moral and political issues they have to deal with and the history which has led them to this point is far better explored and is much less screen time than the Emperor’s story.

The film looks as sumptuous as you would imagine it would. Rather than using specific colours to represent significant themes as with Hero, here it’s a plethora or colours which are overwhelmingly bright and invading the set. Carpets, ceilings and walls and costumes all deserve to be greeted with awe as they capture the decadence and opulence of the Emperor and his family. A contrast between the working classes below is missed by Yimou when we finally see how the other side lives. Unfortunately for all its glorious beauty and colour, these elements actually work to highlight the films deficiencies. Never before has a films style so overpowered it content as to perfectly prove the argument that style over substance results in a dreadful film. Zhang Yimou is a greater filmmaker than this and hopefully now he will return to the filmmaking which earned him his reputation and that Curse of Golden Flower will not prove to be curse for Zhang Yimou.

The final film of Yimou’s wushu trilogies falls far short of the high quality set by the genre and not even the return of Gong Li to Yimou’s screen can redeem this vacuous attempt at artistic filmmaking. My advice, buy Kurosawa’s Ran and watch how it should be done.