Flowers of Shanghai

Flowers of Shanghai (1998)

Unrated 17 Oct 1998 • Drama • 1h 53m
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In Shanghai in the 1880s there are four elegant brothels (flower houses): each has an auntie (called madam), a courtesan in her prime, older servants, and maturing girls in training. The men gather around tables of food, playing drinking games. An opium pipe is at hand. The women live within dark-paneled walls. The atmosphere is stifling, as if Chekhov was in China. The melancholy Wang is Crimson's patron; will he leave her for the younger Jasmin? Emerald schemes to buy her freedom, aided by patron Luo. Pearl, an aging flower, schools the willful Jade, who thinks she has a marriage agreement with young master Zhu. Is she dreaming? Women fade, or connive, or despair.

Hsiao-Hsien Hou
Director
Bangqing Han, Eileen Chang, T'ien-wen Chu
Writer
Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Michiko Hada, Michelle Reis
Starring

Language: Cantonese, Shanghainese
Awards: 6 wins & 6 nominations
Country: Taiwan, Japan
Metacritic Score: 73
DVD Release Date:
Box Office Total:

7.3

IMDb (4158 votes)
93%
Rotten Tomatoes
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