Review of Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) by Zachary S — 02 Feb 2010

Drawing obvious influence from Shakespearean tragedies, Curse of the Golden Flower is a beautiful, but considerably isolating personal drama that focuses primarily on the failings and private power struggles between several individuals in a fictional ancient Chinese court.

The filmâ??s emphasizes not only on the emotional tensions between individuals, but also the social and political tensions between members of the court and its oppressive structure. Intricate personal dramas interwoven with political drama is one of the main themes explored in the film.

As mentioned before, the film is exquisite to behold, boasting some of the most fantastical, mysterious, and ethereal atmosphere ever captured on film, mainly due to the elaborately vibrant set designs and costumes.

The costumes of the royalty, and the empress depicted by actress Gong Li in particular, are incredibly extravagant and establish the otherworldly superiority of the characters in correlation to their boastful pride.

However, the filmâ??s main, and fatal, failing is in its character development; because each of the characters is so selfish and impeccably flawed to the point of being revolting, the viewer will find it an extensive difficult task to forage an emotional connection and investment in them.

Thus, throughout the film, the viewer will find themselves unaffected by the deaths of the characters. This detachment from the characters is what ultimately makes the film come off as unsuccessful overall.

Driven by selfish motivations, each and every one of them lacks redeeming qualities to make them appealing to a viewer. Perhaps it was a choice by the direction, to emulate the typical convections of the mortally flawed characters in the works of great writers such as Shakespeare, or perhaps is was accidental, but either way, the work remains more of a spectacle of style over substance, and the lack of facilitating emotional investments hinders its ability to move the viewer.

What could have been a deeply moving and crushing drama of a struggling family, turned into just yet another sad tale of shallow individuals driven by egotistical motivations, and the painful process by which they destroy each other and themselves through the pursuit of these motivations.