Curse of the Golden Flower (Film Review)

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

Image Source: http://www.movieartarena.com/imgs/cotgfdvd.jpg

Following his two martial-art epics, “Hero” (2002) and “House of Flying Daggers” (2004), Yimou stretched the boundaries of line and color once more with his third epic, “Curse of the Golden Flower” (2006). The focus on tyranny is obviously familiar territory for Yimou; it involves a murderous emperor, another rebellious hero, a devious conspiracy, and another ambiguous moral at the end that is as intellectually sophisticated as Hero’s. 

But there is an emotional containment presented in the performances by its two lead actors, Gong Li and Chow-Yun Fat that allows for a greater focus on surrounding environment. In addition to the sets and intense action sequences like in Hero, Yimou has increased the number of subjects in the frame with computer-generated armies, serving in one sense as a gravitational pull that helps us more easily access its fairy-tale like world. 

Yimou reaches new heights in visuals here, notably the lavish production design and expensive costumes that consist of golds and rainbow color schemes. The dark and depressing plot is masked by these saturated hues, so vivid, that it sometimes causes the viewer to first focus on the world he’s created and the characters, second.

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A variety of screenshots shows the dynamic close-ups on the empress (Gong Li)

    The various aspects of eating and drinking, including the preparation and consumption of meals reveals privilege for the characters in power. The consumption reveals a pronounced desire for pleasure which adds texture and greater dimension. Food and drinks are provided by one group of workers to another within the imperial palace. In this case, the empress has been required to drink a medicinal tea every two hours. The interaction between the emperor and empress remains mysterious and is difficult to see hidden motives. Gong Li and Chow Yun-Fat are gifted with the perfect physicality to play a monarch and patriarch, as their serious and cool exterior naturally provide a sense of stability for the film as a whole.

A clip showcasing its technique in composition for focalizing the subjects

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbqNepP6l3g&t=25s

    Similar to how a Stanley Kubrick or Wes Anderson uses centered compositions to help unify visually distinctive and complex elements, Yimou uses this here too, which strengthens the dynamic use of color and design throughout the film. It aligns perfectly with its tone, since it is a tale of a powerful patriarchal structure.

    Without the empress knowing, the tea is secretly supplemented by the emperor’s command, with a poisonous mushroom that will eventually kill her. The Empress's response is to fight back: she executes a plan of revenge to take place during the Chong Yang Festival, a celebration of family, ancestry, and escape from evil fortune. The device of a hidden poison is increasingly haunting in this type of extravagant world; the film's exterior makes it feel like you are in this utopia when really, the evil brewing beneath is shrouded in deception and has terrible intentions.

References:

(n.d.) [Image]

http://www.movieartarena.com/imgs/cotgfdvd.jpg

Александр Аврамов (2013, Sep 14) Curse of the golden flower [Video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbqNepP6l3g&t=25s

(n.d.) [Image]
http://media-cacheec0.pinimg.com/236x/8c/cd/82/8ccd8206c56e7c4da431ad636527fbad.jpg