Curse Of The Golden Flower/Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Yun-Fat Chow 2009 DVD

Double bill of Chinese dramas. In ‘Curse of the Golden Flower’ (2006) it is the latter days of the Tang Dynasty in 10th century China, and the Emperor (Chow Yun-Fat) returns home from war unexpectedly along with his son Prince Jai (Jay Chou). But while the Empress (Gong Li) is happy to see her son, her reception of her husband is less cordial – their marriage has been an unhappy one for many years and in the Emperor’s absence she has taken her step-son, Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), as a lover. In frustration, the Emperor orders the Imperial doctor (Ni Dahong) to secretly drug the Empress and render her insane. But the situation is further complicated by the doctor’s daughter, with whom the Crown Prince secretly wishes to elope. As the family’s entangled motives inevitably lead towards violence and retribution, its youngest member, Prince Yu (Qin Junjie), struggles to bring peace to the royal household. In ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ (2000) Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) has been charged with bringing the Green Destiny, a legendary antique sword, to its new owner in the capital. But the sword is stolen by a mysterious black-clad thief whose martial arts expertise outshines even that of Shu Lien herself. Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) soon arrives to help search for the sword, and his suspicions are aroused when he realises that his old enemy Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-Pei) is nearby. Ang Lee’s epic tale of martial arts chivalry broke box office records for foreign language film distribution, received critical acclaim the world over, and won four Oscars (Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Music, and Best Foreign Language Film).