In ancient China, a government official sends his daughter to a boarding school for men in order to increase her education and to marry her to a powerful lord. There, she falls in love with a young poor man. This is a remake of Li Han Shiang's The Love Eterne, based on the Butterfly Lovers legend.
Review
Tsui Hark delivers a crystal clear mise-en-scene, a simple story but with very complex sub-texts. He masterfully deals with the questions of love, freedom and art. A loving glance is for instance a compulsory thing in romantic stories. Here, it happens at the end of a lengthy travelling sequence, full of shot, reverse shot patterns, until the eyes of both lovers finally meet. This very moment arises from movements but it is also characterised by its immobility. That is what the whole movie is...