History Film / CurseOfTheGoldenFlower

The film is notable for its exquisite use of color, MindScrew inducing visuals and epic battles, as well as Creator/ChowYunFat and Creator/GongLi starring as the royal couple. It managed to pick up an Academy Award nomination (for costuming). It's also one of the few Chinese films to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar use a visual metaphor for the Tiananmen Square uprising and get away with it]]. It is often compared with ''Film/LegendOfTheBlackScorpion''.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The massacre of the golden army at the end certainly looks reminiscent of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.

Near the end of the Tang dynasty, TheEmperor has been away at war for three years, along with his second son, [[WarriorPrince Prince Jai]]. They return to the Forbidden City as the Chrysanthemum Festival approaches, and soon plots, old secrets, and family dynamics all come out of the woodwork. The emperor is thinking of naming a new successor. The crown prince, Wan, is having an affair with his [[ParentalIncest stepmother]] and the imperial doctor's daughter. The doctor's daughter, Chan, has been adding a new ingredient to the empress's medicine. The empress, believed to be suffering from anemia for years, is suddenly getting much worse. Not to mention she has taken on a mountain of embroidery that she insists must be finished in time for the festival. And no one pays any attention to the youngest prince, Yu.

* ConspicuousCG: Prince Jai and the Emperor's armies specifically.

* DownerEnding: You could see from the beginning that this story wouldn't have a happy ending. Major death and misery is foreshadowed from the start. [[spoiler: Wan figures out Chan is his half-sister, and Chan promptly gets killed along with her mother. Yu kills Wan out of jealousy, the Emperor then beats the Yu to death, Jai attempts a coup, but fails spectacularly and commits suicide, and the Empress goes insane.]]

* IfICantHaveYou: This is what appears to be behind the empress's dislike for Chan. [[spoiler: Though the part where Chan is helping to poison her probably doesn't help.]]

* GorgeousPeriodDress: Hey, it's a movie about the imperial China.
* GratuitousNinja: Although the film is set in China, the Emperor's black-clad guardsmen are obviously inspired by cinema ninja.

[[quoteright:450:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/curse-of-the-golden-flower.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:450:ModestRoyalty they ain't.]]
A 2006 Chinese film directed by ZhangYimou (of ''Film/{{Hero}}'' and ''Film/HouseOfFlyingDaggers'' fame), ''Curse of the Golden Flower'' follows the imperial family in the Forbidden City and the various [[GambitPileup wheels within wheels]] they have going against each other.

The film is notable for its exquisite use of color, MindScrew inducing visuals and epic battles, as well as ChowYunFat and Creator/GongLi starring as the royal couple. It managed to pick up an Academy Award nomination (for costuming). It's also one of the few Chinese films to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar use a visual metaphor for the Tiananmen Square uprising and get away with it]]. It is often compared with ''Film/LegendOfTheBlackScorpion''.

* {{Badass}}: The emperor wins a sword-fight without even getting up.

* KickedUpstairs: Since the imperial doctor [[HeKnowsTooMuch knows too much]] about the secret ingredient of the Empress medicine, he pretends to promote him to governor of the province of Suzhou [[spoiler: when actually he's sending him away from his wife's influence to have him and his family killed.]]

* KickedUpstair: Since the imperial doctor [[HeKnowsTooMuch knows too much]] about the secret ingredient of the Empress medicine, he pretends to promote him to governor of the province of Suzhou [[spoiler: when actually he's sending him away from his wife's influence to have him and his family killed.]]

* AntiHero: The Empress.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: This is at least an attitude present in the story. Whether or not the empress is actually somebody to be feared in the end, her husband and the crown prince are perfectly willing to call her mad and dangerous.

* TheBriseWithAPast: The imperial doctor's wife has a past she hasn't tell her husband yet. [[spoiler: She was the emperor's first wife, whom he attempted to kill in order to be free to marry the previous emperor's daughter.]]

* AbsoluteCleavage: Nearly all the female characters in this film.

* GenreSavvy: Wan seems to pick up on political plots long before most characters even guess something is strange.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja: Although the film is set in China, the Emperor's black-clad guardsmen are obviously inspired by cinema ninja.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/curse-of-the-golden-flower.jpg

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The emperor gives one to Jai, who gives one right back. [[spoiler: The emperor reveals that he was going to make Jai his heir, and that they specifically talked about Jai not trying to take what his father didn't give him. Jai replies that it was never about power, but because the emperor was so cruel to the empress.]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Prince Yu, the meek, gentle third son, murders his brother out of nowhere and demands that the emperor abdicate and put him on the throne.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Jai commits suicide at the end rather than be forced to give his beloved mother the poison medicine slowly killing her, then be torn apart by horses once she's dead.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Prince Yu, the meek, gentle third son, murders his brother out of nowhere and demands that the emperor advocate and put him on the throne.

* SlipknotPonytail: The emperor's comes undone during what can only be described as the most epic slap on film.

* AbsoluteCleavage: Nearly all the woman in this film.