Curse of the Golden Flower

Last week I was at the local movie rental and was looking for something light hearted and romantic. So I wasn't really sure what attracted me the 'Curse of the Golden Flower', which in all honesty was the exact opposite of the genre I had intended to pick up.

In this film, actress Gong Li stars as a Chinese Empress, trapped by her controlling her husband, who is slowly poisoning her. The movie takes place at the time of the Chrysanthemum festival in China.

The empress has become aware of her husband's attempts to murder her. Her second son, Prince Jai has returned after years at war, and her oldest son has just ended their 3 year long affair (yes, incest) after choosing to be faithful to the daughter of the Imperial Doctor, who he is also in a relationship with.
After much suffering Gong Lie plans to challenge the Emperor, insisting that she will not die without a fight. The story soon becomes a complicated tale, filled with a lot of incest, drama, family politics and some amazing action sequences. It soon seems that everyone in this story has a secret or a hidden past.

Although the story itself is complex, the production is spectacular. Granted, the action gets pretty gruesome at some points, but don't let that throw you off. What really made this movie was the great interaction between all the different characters. The movie didn't pride itself or overdo it on the martial arts, it focused on the lives of the main characters and gave the film from the perspectives of all the different members of the Imperial household.

The only slight disappointment was the ending, which I did not consider very satisfying. If you're in the mood for something slightly more serious than the average romcom and want a bit of action too, then this is the perfect movie to see.

Curse of the Golden Flower was also the most expensive Chinese movie ever made and was nominated and won many awards.