While watching Curse of The Golden Flower, I couldn't help but wonder what on earth is this going to look like on T.V. I should think that even if you had a large high definition set the colour range and overall scale could look pretty messy.

I saw it with one of my sons and both of us unknowingly drew the same parallels with Gong Li and Monica Bellucci. I can't remember the exact quote but it was to do with filming The Passion of the Christ where someone noted that it didn't matter how messy or dirty Monica was, she still radiated beauty, that is also very true of Gong Li, even at her most distressed, she was still gorgeous.

The girl who played Chan (the doctor's daughter) reminded me of the lovely Xun Zhou, Suzhou River, Beijing Bicycle both very similar facially.

Spoiler Alert

Re: the incest, I had to stifle a laugh way ahead of any denouement, simply because it was so obvious where the story was heading. 

The nastiest part without a doubt had to be when Ping beat his son to death with his belt............. .

End of spoiler

Cheers Trev.