Synopsis
During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as his wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.
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Cast
- Chow Yun-fatEmperor Ping
- Gong LiEmpress Phoenix
- Jay ChouPrince Zhai
- Liu YeCrown Prince Wan
- Qin JunjiePrince Yu
- Li ManJiang Chan
- Ni DahongImperial Physician Jiang
- Chen JinImperial Physician's Wife
- Siran GeMaid
- Jiulong GuoHost of The Festival
Recommendations
- 100
Time
This is high, and high-wire, melodrama. It's less soap opera than grand opera, where matters of love and death are played at a perfect fever pitch. And grand this Golden Flower is. - 100
Chicago Tribune
It's a work by cinematic geniuses that reveals beauty and terror in a long-ago time with a virtuoso intensity. You won't soon forget its mad, lovely sights and sounds. - 90
Los Angeles Times
A period spectacle, steeped in awesome splendor and lethal palace intrigue, it climaxes in a stupendous battle scene and epic tragedy. - 80
The New York Times
Since his debut in 1987 with "Red Sorghum" Mr. Zhang has made more controlled films but never one that's more fun. With Curse of the Golden Flower he aims for Shakespeare and winds up with Jacqueline Susann. And a good thing too. - 75
Christian Science Monitor
Exhaustingly action-packed. - 75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It's more theatrical pageant than action movie, with the showy but rudimentary martial-arts action coming off like just another ritual with the players going through the motions. - 70
Village Voice
Like his "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers," Zhang Yimou's third global-market gigaproduction makes little sense in narrative terms even after two screenings, but the sets, costumes, and cinematography are so intoxicating that it doesn't much matter. - 60
Variety
Zhang Yimou's strangest and most troubled film, abounds in hysterical, mannered Tang Dynasty-era palace intrigue and dehumanized CGI battle sequences.
