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Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

Yun-Fat Chow , Li Gong , Yimou Zhang  |  R |  DVD
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (195 customer reviews)

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Curse of the Golden Flower + House of Flying Daggers + Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
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Product Details

  • Actors: Yun-Fat Chow, Li Gong, Jay Chou, Ye Liu, Dahong Ni
  • Directors: Yimou Zhang
  • Writers: Yimou Zhang, Yu Cao
  • Producers: Yimou Zhang, Weiping Zhang, William Kong, Zhenyan Zhang
  • Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
  • Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
  • Subtitles: English, French
  • Dubbed: English
  • Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English
  • Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
    PLEASE NOTE:
    Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click .
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rated: R (Restricted)
  • Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: March 27, 2007
  • Run Time: 114 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (195 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000MRA592
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,762 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • Learn more about "Curse of the Golden Flower" on IMDb

Special Features

  • “Secrets Within” behind-the-scenes featurette
  • Los Angeles Premiere

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Curse of the Golden Flower, a fictionalized historical glimpse into the brutally complicated politics of Emperor Ping's (Chow Yun Fat) reign during the Tang Dynasty, shows the viewer just how far a megalomaniac must go to gain and retain power in medieval China. Lavish sets, massive ceremonial displays, and perversely fascinating battle scenes impress similarly to the special effects Americans have come to love and expect from Chinese action films like Zhang Yimou's previous House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. An intricate plot involving the Emperor's wife, Empress Phoenix (Gong Li) and their three sons, Crown Prince Xiang, Prince Jie, and Prince Cheng, most closely follows the Empress's secret plan to force abdication upon her corrupt husband as revenge for his slowly poisoning her with Black Fungus tea. Opening on the eve of the Chysanthemum Festival, 928 A.D., the Empress obsessively embroiders gold chysanthemums to adorn her army's uniforms while hatching plans with Jai to overthrow the Crown Prince for control of the throne. Meanwhile, a side plot develops as the Emperor's ex-wife and mother to Crown Prince Yu reemerges as Yu's lover. By the time the Festival occurs, family members are pitted against each other in a King Lear-ian web of lies that can only result in demise. The most sophisticated narrative aspect of Curse of the Golden Flower is that as the royal family crumbles, the Emperor's death grip on China remains unwavering. Gorgeous scenes set in the palace and costume design displaying China's upper class decadence cannot fail to entertain. The paradox between good and evil, here, is highlighted by how the Emperor successfully rules despite, and because of, his utter cruelty. --Trinie Dalton

Product Description

"From the director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers comes the martial arts epic masterpiece whose savage beauty and exquisite elegance has mesmerized and captivated audiences around the world. Set in the lavish and breathtakingly colorful world hidden from the eyes of mere mortals behind the walls of the Forbidden City, a tale of a royal family divided against itself builds to a mythic climax as lines are crossed, trust is betrayed, and family blood is spilled in the quest for redemption and revenge. Starring Chow Yun Fat of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as the embattled Emperor and Gong Li of Memoirs of a Geisha as his poisoned Empress, Curse of the Golden Flower grants you entry into a dazzling and spectacular world of betrayal, vengeance and passion that will change the way you think of martial arts forever. "

Customer Reviews

A very good movie with lots of beautiful colored scenes. Buho 1  |  22 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Recalling the critical reviews of "Curse of the Golden Flower" upon its release, I seem to remember a pretty split decision. There were those that proclaimed the film a tawdry and violent melodrama while others declared it a beautiful epic. Well, in all fairness, it is a beautiful, yet tawdry, excessively violent melodramatic epic. And I mean that in all the best ways! Chinese director Zhang Yimou has put together an eye-popping spectacle of sets, costumes, and effects--complete with his customary flair for dreamlike action sequences and an astonishing color palette.

Telling a soapy tale of dysfunction within Emperor Ping's clan circa The Tang Dynasty (928 A.D.), "Curse" has all the lurid ingredients of a modern-day potboiler. There are illicit affairs, murderous schemes, generational secrets, and gruesome acts of violence. Similar to the setup of "The Lion in Winter," "Curse" brings the Ping family together and lets them attack each other with a refreshingly unhinged viciousness. But while "Lion's" carnage was largely verbal, no such claim can be made with this film. With elements of "King Lear" firmly in place, the pace of "Curse" accelerates so rapidly--you know the characters are headed for disaster.

Central to the remarkable cast is the gorgeous Gong Li as the Empress. As the catalyst of most of the film's action, Li is the film's most pivotal performer. The female center of this "Flower" (which includes Chow Yun Fat as her husband and their three sons/heirs), Li practically devours the role. Full of passion, rage, lust, and plenty of secrets--she has never been given a showier role and definitely rises to the occasion. The performances are so good, so alive, you want to stick with the tale to the bitter end. And no matter how outrageous this film can get (and the madcap finale certainly pushes conventional sensibilities), it is always grounded with the actors.

Forget Shakespeare's most violent tragedies, "Curse" sports a body count that even the Bard would surely envy. Not since the wickedly over-the-top killing spree during the finale of DiPalma's "Scarface" has a movie devolved into such an unabashed show of bloody lunacy. Ridiculous at every turn, the film succeeds by embracing its excesses. The final showdown left me marveling at the staged choreography and laughing at the inspired, yet insane, debauchery. I won't contend that "Curse" is an artistic masterwork that rivals Yimou's previous films "House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero"--but I will say that it is massive entertainment. A frantic, blood-soaked opera of lust and vengeance (with no apologies), I loved "Curse of the Golden Flower." KGHarris, 11/07.
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Intricate and Gorgeous Shakespearean Chinese Dynasty film December 18, 2007
By B. Shaw
Format:DVD
Outstanding! Incredible cinematography, exceptionally ornate sets, very appropriate and well-done music, academy award-level acting, I keep trying to come up with more superlatives to use for the movie! I thoroughly enjoyed every nanosecond of it. It held my interest so well that I simply could not stop watching it, twice! The sets are exquisitely detailed and opulent, the martial arts used were excellent. It is subtitled, so if you are not accustomed to reading English while trying to pick up on the tonal inflections of the actors you may miss much in their performances...unless of course you speak Mandarin. The plot was Shakespearen in both it's quality and its intricacy. The whole movie centers, and stays focused, on the life of the Imperial family and an upcoming coup within it. One of the other reviews noted that the Imperial physician's wife was having an affair with the Crown Prince, but I think they mis-stated. It was her daughter, Chan, having the affair and the mom became insensed with anger when she found out, since she was mother to both...and they didn't know it. There is so much intrigue and a very complex plot, yet somehow so well-written that I did not find it hard to follow at all.
This is an excellent example of the best of Chinese film-making, and I think an outstanding period piece as well.
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35 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I note that an earlier reviewer saw the 'making-of' featurette. and it's

a good intro into peeling away the layers of this quasi-Shakespearean melodrama. There's something dramatists like, the theme of the darkness beneath the beauty.

Slow starting, Director Zhang moves faster and faster telling the tale of unfolding faces (in an asian sense) and the complexities of relationships,

veering every so-often in to soap-operatics. Yet with extravagant graphics/ production qualities and a nice pattern of on-and-off action with teary or sneer-y confrontations and trysts, even the maybe too-dramatic elements work well.

One measure might be that in re-seeing, the layers get more intense and understandable, adding weight to the conflicts; a plus for buyers versus renters.

Now, if only a quality version of RAISE THE RED LANTERN would be released, Zhang Yimou's stature as a world-class director would be rightly, finally, established. With his successes this millennium, it might just happen for the man...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars fasincating
great movie. never knew what was gonna happen at the end till the end. kept me guessing! i would recoomend
Published 47 minutes ago by kelso
3.0 out of 5 stars curse of the golden flower
I enjoyed watching the movie. Subtitles disappeared to quickly at times to read them. Outside of that, I enjoyed the story line.
Published 4 days ago by danaczu
4.0 out of 5 stars Love this movie
This is an awesome movie! The cinematography is so on point! The story line is the best! This has been one of my favorite movies since the first time I saw it! Read more
Published 13 days ago by Kim
5.0 out of 5 stars Curse of the Golden Flower
This movie is fantastic. Gong Li is amazing as always, the story is very good, the cinematography is exceptional, and it is brilliantly directed. Really worth it. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Melissa Johnston
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best of all time!
Wonderful scenery, magnificent battle scenes, intriguing storyline with interesting plot twists. Acting was superb., I want to see more. Chemistry between actors really worked.
Published 21 days ago by arthur murata
5.0 out of 5 stars why i love this movie
this movie is colorful i lovve the music and how everything was done in an orderly fashion. i have seen this movie several times and never get tired of seeing it.
Published 21 days ago by sandy
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Colors
I absolutely love the colors of the interiors of the buildings: and the chanting of the "night watchmen" as they make their rounds.
Published 22 days ago by Robert J. Koenig
5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular visuals
This is what Blu-Ray was made for. The use of color throughout the film is top-notch, the visuals are spectacular, and the story is great. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Christopher Ohn
5.0 out of 5 stars All the movies by this director are awesome
Go team, make more awesome movies! Very well done, leaves out the nasty violence, just implies it, which is great.
Published 1 month ago by Jesse
5.0 out of 5 stars Curse of the Golden Flower
This is an amazing film. It is a foreign film that, unfortunately, American audiences didn't see.
If you think Shakespeare wrote plays about deceit and betrayal, and royal... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sandy Greenbaum
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dvd front cover
Incredibly, this film received an R rating for nudity, and yet there's nothing anymore revealing in the entire running time than that picture on the cover (though there is some visible jiggling when she's running down a hallway).
Jan 8, 2008 by J. Levinson |  See all 4 posts
Blu Ray quality
Only problem for me was some of the CGI looking obviously fake (arrows and spears near the end of the movie).
Jun 7, 2008 by Kami Amaya |  See all 3 posts
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