Sensational and lavish, contains subtlety beyond traditional western fare Those key words covered by this film are powerful, covered as they are by the lavish setting. A fictional account, nominally set in the Tang dynasty period, this movie is an exploration of ego within a family.
The Empress, a cypher of the ego of a mother in a modern family, desires love from all quarters. She is not satisfied with having been a conduit to her husband's ambition, she requires more. But she won't get more because her husband won't surrender his first love/ ideal and because of an illicit affair she has had with her stepson. Were the movie a vehicle for Communist idyllic fantasy, the affairs of the empress would be a joke. The affairs aren't explained, however, and the affairs are merely obstacles within court intrigue that need to be navigated. Communist motifs are present, but the film stands without the need to highlight them.
The eldest son has an ego that needs the love of a young woman, having claimed his stepmother. He is disgraced, and willing to surrender his inheritance claim to his younger brother. He is honorable and loyal, in his own way. He is compromised, wanting his father's love, while having stepped on his father's coat train.
Typical of a communist motif, the youngest son has an ego too, which is not being examined by the others, yet which invites tragedy in ways reminiscent of 'Hero'.
One would think that the ego of the father be satisfied. It isn't. Herod Antipas is said to have murdered his wife, and preserved her body in honey. The father in this case seems to be doing this twice. He hasn't achieved his ideal, and he is willing to crash, or crash through.