Facets of Love contains three stories, all taking place at a whorehouse named The Hundred Flowers Mansion, over a span of a couple of hundred years. The first story, The Flower Lane , is set in the Early Republic and recounts a young orphaned girl’s failed attempt to escape from the whorehouse, having been sold to it by her ruthless uncle. In the Harem goes back to the Qing Dynasty and reveals the truth about the death of the teenaged Emperor Tongzhi: syphilis, which the young sex addict gets infected when he visits the whorehouse in disguise as a civilian. The third story, The Palace Love Story is about Ming Dynasty’s Emperor Zhengde who has a flirtatious affair with celebrated prostitute Fo Dongxin, which literally means “Buddha will be tempted.” Here, the whorehouse doesn’t only provide a link to the three separate stories, but is treated almost like a character in itself. Chan King-sam uses colours and decors to signify the different eras and seasons. Of particular note is a young Jackie Chan playing a waiter with wit and spirit in the third story.

©Licensed by Celestial Pictures Limited. All rights reserved.

25/8

(Sat)

4:30pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

3/11

(Sat)

2:00pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive