Flowers of Shanghai
Encyclopedia
Flowers of Shanghai is a 1998 film, made in Taiwan
, directed by Guangdong-born Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien
starring Hada Michiko, Annie Shizuka Inoh
, Shuan Fang, Jack Kao
, Carina Lau
, Tony Leung
, Rebecca Pan
, Michelle Reis
and Vicky Wei. It was voted the third best film of the 1990s in the 1999 Village Voice Film Poll
.
(Qing dynasty
), several affairs are described. The action involves four drunkards, and takes place mostly in candlelight. Preparation and consumption of opium
and tea are at the center of the business operations.
Subtitle
s note that the girl Crimson is in Huifang, Pearl is in Gongyang, Emerald is in Shangren, and Jasmine is in East Hexing. The relations of the rich gentlemen with the courtesan
s is partly monogamous and is held to an obligation of many years. The life of the graceful, well-bred girls, who were young when bought, resembles in certain respects a life of slavery. Because of the oppressing social conventions, they dream to pay off their debts, or to marry into the freedom and higher conditions.
The silent master Wang leaves the courtesan Crimson in favor of Jasmine, for which it was within only 10 days of a fire and flame after (allegedly) 2½ years. He offers to settle Crimson's debts. Wang sees himself in repeated connections and between hardening fronts. Dependence turns out as reciprocal. Crimson has only master Wang as a customer, and must sustain herself from his money to feed her entire family. Emerald was worth 100 dollars as a child once. Master Luo wants to redeem that value. The prostitute Silver Phoenix is abused by her drawing mother. Master Wang has a drunken rage accumulation, and lets it loose, when he finds out that Crimson goes foreign.
A contract over Emerald is put into play, and a notary comes to log the inventory. Allegedly Wang strikes Jasmine, who then attempts to commit suicide. Jade tries to poison her customer, with whom she had sworn her eternal love. For one arranges thereupon a marriage. Crimson, for master Wang, at last prepares an opium pipe in the quiet blissfulness of being together.
, like Jonathan Rosenbaum
, called Hou Hsiao-hsien the best director of the '90s and hailed Flowers of Shanghai as one of Hou's three masterpieces from that decade.
Jeffrey Anderson finds the film incredibly beautiful despite the need for "multiple viewings and incredible patience." Mark R. Leeper on the other hand found the film "static and dull," while others have called it "borderline comatose."
While Jeremy Heilman didn't want to call it Hou's best film, he certainly considered it his prettiest. Kent Jones called the film innovative.
at Cannes
but did not win.
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, directed by Guangdong-born Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien
Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Hou Hsiao-Hsien is an award-winning film director and a leading figure of Taiwan's New Wave cinema movement.-Biography:...
starring Hada Michiko, Annie Shizuka Inoh
Annie Shizuka Inoh
Annie Yi is a singer, a writer and an actress from Republic of China . Born on March 4, 1969 in Taipei with the birthname of Wu Jingyi , she changed her name after her mother remarried, to a Japanese man and then simplified it to Yi Nengjing upon returning to Taiwan in 1988 to launch her singing...
, Shuan Fang, Jack Kao
Jack Kao
Jack Kao is a Taiwanese actor. He began his career in the late 1980s films of Hou Hsiao-Hsien.-Filmography:*Daughter of the Nile *Rouge of The North *A City of Sadness *Island of Fire *Dust of Angels...
, Carina Lau
Carina Lau
Carina Lau Kar-ling is a Hong Kong actress. She was especially notable in the 1980s for her girl-next-door type roles in films....
, Tony Leung
Tony Leung Chiu Wai
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is a Hong Kong film actor and former TVB actor. A major film star since the 1990s, Leung has won nine Hong Kong Film Awards and three Golden Horse Best Actor awards...
, Rebecca Pan
Rebecca Pan
Rebecca Pan Di-hua is a Chinese actress and singer.She was born in Shanghai on 29 December 1931. She moved to Hong Kong in 1949. Her singing career began in 1957...
, Michelle Reis
Michelle Reis
-Biography:Reis was born in Macau which was then a Portuguese colony. Reis is of mixed ancestry as her father is Portuguese and her mother is Chinese. So, she can be considered as a macanese. Reis attended Maryknoll Convent School, and matriculated from St. Paul's Secondary School.Reis started...
and Vicky Wei. It was voted the third best film of the 1990s in the 1999 Village Voice Film Poll
Village Voice Film Poll
The Village Voice Film Poll is an annual polling by The Village Voice film section of more than 100 major film critics for alternative media sources. Although the majority of the critics work for the alt-weeklies, a number are former Voice critics who now work for the mainstream media or have...
.
Plot
In four elegant brothels, called "Flower Houses", in fin-de-siècle 19th-century ShanghaiShanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
(Qing dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
), several affairs are described. The action involves four drunkards, and takes place mostly in candlelight. Preparation and consumption of opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
and tea are at the center of the business operations.
Subtitle
Subtitle
A subtitle can refer to:* Subtitle , an explanatory or alternate title of a book, play, film, musical work, etc., in addition to its main title...
s note that the girl Crimson is in Huifang, Pearl is in Gongyang, Emerald is in Shangren, and Jasmine is in East Hexing. The relations of the rich gentlemen with the courtesan
Courtesan
A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
s is partly monogamous and is held to an obligation of many years. The life of the graceful, well-bred girls, who were young when bought, resembles in certain respects a life of slavery. Because of the oppressing social conventions, they dream to pay off their debts, or to marry into the freedom and higher conditions.
The silent master Wang leaves the courtesan Crimson in favor of Jasmine, for which it was within only 10 days of a fire and flame after (allegedly) 2½ years. He offers to settle Crimson's debts. Wang sees himself in repeated connections and between hardening fronts. Dependence turns out as reciprocal. Crimson has only master Wang as a customer, and must sustain herself from his money to feed her entire family. Emerald was worth 100 dollars as a child once. Master Luo wants to redeem that value. The prostitute Silver Phoenix is abused by her drawing mother. Master Wang has a drunken rage accumulation, and lets it loose, when he finds out that Crimson goes foreign.
A contract over Emerald is put into play, and a notary comes to log the inventory. Allegedly Wang strikes Jasmine, who then attempts to commit suicide. Jade tries to poison her customer, with whom she had sworn her eternal love. For one arranges thereupon a marriage. Crimson, for master Wang, at last prepares an opium pipe in the quiet blissfulness of being together.
Cast
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Shuan Fang | Jade |
| Michiko Hada Michiko Hada , born 24 September 1968 in Mitsukaido, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, is a Japanese actress.-External links:*... |
Crimson |
| Hsu An-an | |
| Annie Yi | Golden Flower |
| Jack Kao Jack Kao Jack Kao is a Taiwanese actor. He began his career in the late 1980s films of Hou Hsiao-Hsien.-Filmography:*Daughter of the Nile *Rouge of The North *A City of Sadness *Island of Fire *Dust of Angels... |
Luo |
| Carina Lau Carina Lau Carina Lau Kar-ling is a Hong Kong actress. She was especially notable in the 1980s for her girl-next-door type roles in films.... |
Pearl |
| Tony Leung Chiu-wai | Wang |
| Firebird Lu | Vagabond #2 |
| Rebecca Pan Rebecca Pan Rebecca Pan Di-hua is a Chinese actress and singer.She was born in Shanghai on 29 December 1931. She moved to Hong Kong in 1949. Her singing career began in 1957... |
Huang |
| Michelle Reis Michelle Reis -Biography:Reis was born in Macau which was then a Portuguese colony. Reis is of mixed ancestry as her father is Portuguese and her mother is Chinese. So, she can be considered as a macanese. Reis attended Maryknoll Convent School, and matriculated from St. Paul's Secondary School.Reis started... |
Emerald |
| Vicky Wei | Jasmin |
| VHsu Ming | |
| Pauline Chan Pauline Chan Pauline Chan Bo-Lin is a deceased Hong Kong adult movie actress who aroused significant attraction and controversies in the Greater China Area during her active years in the 1990s.-Career:Born in Shanghai, Chan's parents divorced when she was very young and she immigrated to Hong Kong with her... |
|
| Cheung Shui Chit | |
| Che Hin | |
| Hsu Hui Ni | |
Criticism
Film critic J. HobermanJ. Hoberman
James Lewis Hoberman , also known as J. Hoberman, is an American film critic. He is currently the senior film critic for The Village Voice, a post he has held since 1988.-Education:...
, like Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
, called Hou Hsiao-hsien the best director of the '90s and hailed Flowers of Shanghai as one of Hou's three masterpieces from that decade.
Jeffrey Anderson finds the film incredibly beautiful despite the need for "multiple viewings and incredible patience." Mark R. Leeper on the other hand found the film "static and dull," while others have called it "borderline comatose."
While Jeremy Heilman didn't want to call it Hou's best film, he certainly considered it his prettiest. Kent Jones called the film innovative.
Awards
The film won for Best Director and Best Art Director (Wen-Ying Huang) at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in 1998, and the next year the director won the Golden Crow Pheasant at the Kerala International Film Festival. It was nominated for the Golden PalmPalme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at Cannes
1998 Cannes Film Festival
The 51st Cannes Film Festival was held on May 13-24, 1998. The Palme d'Or went to the Greek film Mia aioniotita kai mia mera by Theo Angelopoulos.- Jury :*Martin Scorsese *Alain Corneau *Chiara Mastroianni...
but did not win.