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Flowers of Shanghai

Original title: Hai shang hua
  • 19981998
  • UnratedUnrated
  • 1h 53m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
3.4K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Michiko Hada, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, and Michelle Reis in Hai shang hua (1998)
Home Video Trailer from Wellspring
Play trailer1:27
1 Video
51 Photos
  • Drama

In the "flower houses" (upscale brothels) of Shanghai, various interweaving stories of love, loyalty, and deceit play out subtly.In the "flower houses" (upscale brothels) of Shanghai, various interweaving stories of love, loyalty, and deceit play out subtly.In the "flower houses" (upscale brothels) of Shanghai, various interweaving stories of love, loyalty, and deceit play out subtly.

IMDb RATING
7.3/10
3.4K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
  • Writers
    • Bangqing Han(from the 1892 dialect novel by)
    • Eileen Chang(novel translated into Mandarin by)
    • T'ien-wen Chu
  • Stars
    • Tony Chiu-Wai Leung
    • Michiko Hada
    • Michelle Reis
Top credits
  • Director
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
  • Writers
    • Bangqing Han(from the 1892 dialect novel by)
    • Eileen Chang(novel translated into Mandarin by)
    • T'ien-wen Chu
  • Stars
    • Tony Chiu-Wai Leung
    • Michiko Hada
    • Michelle Reis
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 29User reviews
    • 35Critic reviews
    • 73Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 6 wins & 6 nominations

    Videos1

    Flowers of Shanghai
    Trailer 1:27
    Flowers of Shanghai

    Photos51

    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)
    Hai shang hua (1998)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tony Chiu-Wai Leung
    Tony Chiu-Wai Leung
    • Wang Lingshengas Wang Lingsheng
    Michiko Hada
    • Crimsonas Crimson
    Michelle Reis
    Michelle Reis
    • Emeraldas Emerald
    Carina Lau
    Carina Lau
    • Pearlas Pearl
    Jack Kao
    Jack Kao
    • Luoas Luo
    Rebecca Pan
    Rebecca Pan
    • Huangas Huang
    • (as Rebecca Pan Wan-ching)
    Vicky Wei
    Vicky Wei
    • Jasminas Jasmin
    • (as Hsiao-hui Wei)
    Hsuan Fang
    • Jadeas Jade
    Annie Shizuka Inoh
    Annie Shizuka Inoh
    • Golden Floweras Golden Flower
    Ming Hsu
    Ming Hsu
    • Taoas Tao
    Josephine A. Blankstein
    Josephine A. Blankstein
      Pauline Chan
      Pauline Chan
        Simon Chang
        • Zhu Surenas Zhu Suren
        Tony Chang
        • Peking Opera Actoras Peking Opera Actor
        • (as Tony Chang Ruei-che)
        Shui-Chit Cheung
        Wei-kuo Chiang
        • Shu Airenas Shu Airen
        Hui-ni Hsu
        • Shu-Fang's sisteras Shu-Fang's sister
        Yiu-Ming Lee
        Yiu-Ming Lee
        • Azhuas Azhu
        • (as Yu-ming Lee)
        • Director
          • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
        • Writers
          • Bangqing Han(from the 1892 dialect novel by)
          • Eileen Chang(novel translated into Mandarin by)
          • T'ien-wen Chu
        • All cast & crew
        • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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        Storyline

        Edit
        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. —<jhailey@hotmail.com>
        • shanghai china
        • brothel
        • hairpin
        • year 1884
        • courtesan
        • 22 more
        • Plot summary
        • Plot synopsis
        • Genre
          • Drama
        • Certificate
          • Unrated
        • Parents guide

        Did you know

        Edit
        • Trivia
          The film consists of 38 long shots.
        • Connections
          Featured in I Wish I Knew (2010)

        User reviews29

        Review
        Top review
        10/10
        Hou's Rules of the Game
        Hou Hsiao-Hsien's "Flowers of Shanghai" is an opium dream of a movie: visually and aurally there is no mistaking that this is the work of an artist with the imagination of a poet, and the precision of a clockmaker. The opening shot is among the most exquisite in all of cinema: a veritable tour de force that exudes Hou's love for the film medium, but is decidedly restrained and controlled, never allowing style to upstage the narrative and degenerate into mere spectacle. In keeping with the film's setting and rules of patriarchy, the major male characters are introduced first. The women serving these men are then introduced in the following "chapters", each one preceded by title cards announcing their names and place of residence as if gently mocking or subverting the patriarchical order.

        This chamberpiece drama of sexual intrigue and power struggle is astonishingly acute in capturing the feel and sensibilities of the late 19th century but expressed in very contemporary terms without any apparent compromises or contradictions. The painterly colors of "Flowers" may invite comparison with Dutch masters like Vermeer even when Hou is deliberately conjuring an idealized world that is as hermetic as it is artificial: a world composed entirely without natural light is like a dream, hauntingly beautiful and intense but impossible to hold or to keep. That the film is shot entirely indoors and the mise-en-scene is orchestrated without any close-ups is a testament of Hou's faith and supreme confidence in creating a work that remains completely cinematic while averting the pitfalls of feeling stage bound. Despite the subject matter what is also startling is the complete absence of physical sex on screen; and, yet the film manages to sustain an erotically charged atmosphere.

        Beginning with "The Puppetmaster" Hou has been increasingly moving towards a more minimalist form of cinema, stripping the narrative of everything that is superfluous until nothing is left but its emotional core, naked and unadulterated. "Flowers" is very much an interior film that does not depend on voiceover narration to make thoughts explicit. Hou's almost static camera continues to favor long medium takes ranging from 5 to 7 minutes, framing key characters sharing the same space and time, but well within reach of each other, capturing the subtle interplay and nuances while allowing them to drift in and out of the picture frame according to their relative importance in the social hierarchy. In this manner an entire community is evoked: demonstrating that the window to the world is precisely through the interior lives of individuals responsible for shaping the body politic.
        helpful•22
        2
        • dave-593
        • Jun 30, 1999

        Details

        Edit
        • Release date
          • October 17, 1998 (Japan)
        • Countries of origin
          • Taiwan
          • Japan
        • Languages
          • Cantonese
          • Shanghainese
        • Also known as
          • Hoa Thuong Hai
        • Production companies
          • 3H Productions
          • Shochiku
        • See more company credits at IMDbPro

        Technical specs

        Edit
        • Runtime
          1 hour 53 minutes
        • Color
          • Color
        • Sound mix
          • Dolby
        • Aspect ratio
          • 1.85 : 1

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