Flowers of Shanghai
An intoxicating, time-bending experience bathed in the golden glow of oil lamps and wreathed in an opium haze, this gorgeous period reverie by Hou Hsiao-hsien traces the romantic intrigue, jealousies, and tensions swirling around four late-nineteenth-century Shanghai “flower houses,” where courtesans live confined to a gilded cage, ensconced in opulent splendor but forced to work to buy back their freedom. Among the regular clients is the taciturn Master Wang (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), whose relationship with his longtime mistress (Michiko Hada) is roiled by a perceived act of betrayal. Composed in a languorous procession of entrancing long takes, Flowers of Shanghai evokes a vanished world of decadence and cruelty, an insular universe where much of the dramatic action remains tantalizingly offscreen—even as its emotional fallout registers with quiet devastation.
Special Features
- New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New introduction by critic Tony Rayns
- Beautified Realism, a new documentary by Daniel Raim and Eugene Suen on the making of the film, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Mark Lee Ping-bing, producer and editor Liao Ching-sung, production designer Hwarng Wern-ying, and sound recordist Tu Duu-chih
- Excerpts from a 2015 interview with Hou, recorded as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Oral History Projects
- Trailer
- English subtitle translation by Rayns
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Jean Ma and a 2009 interview with Hou conducted by scholar Michael Berry
New cover by Victo Ngai
Special Features
- New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New introduction by critic Tony Rayns
- Beautified Realism, a new documentary by Daniel Raim and Eugene Suen on the making of the film, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Mark Lee Ping-bing, producer and editor Liao Ching-sung, production designer Hwarng Wern-ying, and sound recordist Tu Duu-chih
- Excerpts from a 2015 interview with Hou, recorded as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Oral History Projects
- Trailer
- English subtitle translation by Rayns
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Jean Ma and a 2009 interview with Hou conducted by scholar Michael Berry
New cover by Victo Ngai
Cast
- Tony Leung Chiu-wai
- Master Wang
- Michiko Hada
- Crimson
- Michelle Reis
- Emerald
- Carina Lau Ka Ling
- Pearl
- Jack Kao
- Master Luo
- Rebecca Pan
- Huang
- Vicky Wei
- Jasmin
- Simon Chang
- Zhu Shuren
- Hsuan Fang
- Jade
- Luo Tsai-erh
- Master Hong
- Annie Shizuka Inoh
- Golden Flower
- Hsu Ming
- Master Tao
Credits
- Director
- Hou Hsiao-hsien
- Produced by
- Hou Hsiao-hsien
- Shozo Ichiyama
- Screenplay by
- Chu Tien-wen
- Based on The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai by
- Han Ziyun
- In a translation by
- Eileen Chang
- Music by
- Yoshihiro Hanno
- Cinematography by
- Mark Lee Ping-bing
- Film editing by
- Liao Ching-sung
- Sound by
- Tu Duu-chih
- Production design by
- Hwarng Wern-ying
Trailer for Flowers of Shanghai
