Flowers of Shanghai

The film is set in the elegant brothels of Shanghai, called Changsan Shuyu ({{lang|zh-Hant|長三書寓}}; "Flower Houses"), in 1884. The story is about the prostitutes in these houses, known as "shi sen" or "flower girls," who are top-notch prostitutes, depicting in great detail their relationships with the wealthy patrons, which are semi-monogamous and often last for a long period of time, and the daily activities in the houses.{{Cite web |title=张爱玲诞辰百年｜细读《海上花》①：从长三书寓到香港大宅_翻书党_澎湃新闻-The Paper |url=https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_9101122 |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=www.thepaper.cn |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407143829/https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_9101122 |url-status=live }}

The main prostitutes in the film are Crimson, Jasmin, Jade, Pearl and Emerald. Crimson belongs to the Huifang Enclave ({{lang|zh-Hant|薈芳里}}), while Jasmin works at the East Hexing Enclave ({{lang|zh-Hant|東合興里}}). Jade and her friend Pearl work in the Gongyang Enclave ({{lang|zh-Hant|公陽里}}), and Emerald resides in the Shangren Enclave ({{lang|zh-Hant|尚仁里}}). The film explores the relationships between the wealthy patrons and the prostitutes.

Master Wang leaves the prostitute Crimson at the end of their "four-or-five" year relationship after he is refused her hand in marriage. He falls for the younger prostitute Jasmin, angering Crimson. However, Master Wang still has feelings for Crimson. When he finds out she is having an affair with an actor, he launches into a drunken rage. He agrees to marry Jasmin and departs for Guangdong after receiving a promotion. It is later revealed in conversation between other characters that Jasmin had an affair with Wang's nephew.

Another prostitute, Jade, has been given a promise by her lover, the young and immature Master Zhu, that if they cannot be married together, they will die together. When it is apparent that the marriage will not occur, she gives Zhu opium in an attempt to poison him before attempting to drink opium herself.

Emerald yearns for freedom from life in a brothel and is supported by Luo, one of her patrons. As a child, she was bought for $100 by her auntie who insists that freedom costs many times that value ($3,000); the negotiation goes on throughout the film. With the help of Master Hong and Luo, Emerald negotiates a satisfactory price and achieves her independence.

Regarding the English title of the film, the meaning of "sing-song girls" does not refer to singing girls who sing for a living. Eileen Chang's commentary on the Mandarin text makes it clear: "Xiansheng" or "Xi sang" in Wu is pronounced as "sing song". That is probably why the title is translated as "sing-song girls" - not the translation of "singing girl". The term "singing girl" was a new term from the late 1920s to the 1930s, after there were dancing girl.{{Cite web |title=张爱玲诞辰百年｜细读《海上花》①：从长三书寓到香港大宅_翻书党_澎湃新闻-The Paper |url=https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_9101122 |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=www.thepaper.cn}}

According to the screenwriter Chu Tʽien-wen, Flowers of Shanghai was originated with Hou Hsiao-Hsien's intention to create a collection of art production resources for Taiwan cinema with the assistance of art director Hwarng Wern-ying (黃文英), as he did for sound recording with Tu Duu-Chi (杜篤之) .{{Cite book |last=朱 |first=天文 |title=紅氣球的旅行：侯孝賢電影記錄彙編 |publisher=山東畫報出版社有限公司 |year=2019 |isbn=9787547418956 |pages=593–605 |language=zh-CN}}

Hou Hsiao-Hsien originally intended to shoot Flowers of Shanghai in China, but the application was not approved by the Chinese government. The production was forced to be completed in Taiwan, which is why the film has no outdoor scenes. Without proper locations that could be the background for the period, the film was all shot in the studio.{{Cite book |last=黃 |first=文英 |title=海上繁華錄：《海上花》的影像美感 |last2=曹 |first2=智偉 |publisher=遠流出版 |year=1998 |isbn=9789573235958 |language=zh-tw}}

Hou Hsiao-hsien's long shots are used to their fullest potential in this film. The nearly two-hour film consists of only less than forty shots. The long takes are edited by using fade-ins and fade-outs imitating the rhythm of breathing, which also allow the viewers to have enough time to fully appreciate the recreation of old Shanghai on screen.{{Cite web |title=台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival {{!}} 海上花 |url=https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/3119?search_year=2021 |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=www.goldenhorse.org.tw |language=zh-TW}}

Ah Cheng (Zhong Acheng, 鍾阿城) was responsible for sourcing and ordering most of the costumes and props for the film from China. He proposed to Hou that the film should not use electric bulbs but be lit with candles to give the room a warm and nostalgic atmosphere.

The film won for Best Director and Best Art Director (Wen-Ying Huang) at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in 1998, and the next year the director won the Golden Crow Pheasant at the International Film Festival of Kerala. It was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes but did not win.{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4913/year/1998.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Flowers of Shanghai |accessdate=2009-09-30 |work=festival-cannes.com |archive-date=8 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208013940/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4913/year/1998.html |url-status=live }}

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 14 reviews.{{cite web|title=Flowers of Shanghai|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flowers_of_shanghai|work=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=14 August 2021}} On Metacritic, the film has an average weighted score of 73 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/flowers-of-shanghai|title=Flowers of Shanghai|work=Metacritic|access-date=14 August 2021}}

Film critic J. Hoberman, like Jonathan Rosenbaum, called Hou Hsiao-hsien the best director of the '90s, and hailed Flowers of Shanghai as one of Hou's three masterpieces from that decade.{{cite web

|author = J. Hoberman

|url = http://www.filmlinc.com/film-comment/article/film-comments-best-of-the-90s-poll-part-two

|title = Film Comment's Best of the 90s Poll: Part Two

|work = Film Comment

|year = 2000

|url-status = dead

|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120405143940/http://www.filmlinc.com/film-comment/article/film-comments-best-of-the-90s-poll-part-two

|archivedate = 5 April 2012

|df = dmy-all

}}

Jeffrey Anderson finds the film incredibly beautiful, despite the need for "multiple viewings and incredible patience."{{cite web

| author=Jeffrey M. Anderson

| url=http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/flowshang.shtml

| title=Flowers of Shanghai (1998)

| work=Combustible Celluloid

| accessdate=28 September 2008

| quote=Multiple viewings and incredible patience are necessary. […] Each scene seems to be lit entirely by candles and oil lamps […] Even though we never leave the brothel, there is never any hint of sex or even passion […] A single strain of music is repeated over and over throughout the film […] I cannot stress enough the incredible beauty of this movie

| archive-date=29 March 2008

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080329054101/http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/flowshang.shtml

| url-status=live

}}

While Jeremy Heilman did not want to call it Hou's best film, he considered it his prettiest.{{cite web

| author=Jeremy Heilman

| url=http://www.moviemartyr.com/1997/flowersofshanghai.htm

| title=Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-hsien) 1997

| work=moviemartyr.com

| date=October 2001

| accessdate=28 September 2008

| quote=I feel […] that I was transported into another world (I realize this is a huge cliché, but I can think of no other director that evokes this feeling so well.) Flowers of Shanghai probably isn't Hou's best film, […] but perhaps it is his prettiest. […] highly recommended

| archive-date=30 September 2008

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930180135/http://www.moviemartyr.com/1997/flowersofshanghai.htm

| url-status=live

}} Kent Jones called the film innovative.{{cite web

|author = Kent Jones

|url = http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/9-10-99/hou.htm

|title = Cinema With a Roof Over its Head

|work = Film Comment

|year = 1999

|accessdate = 27 September 2008

|quote = space at times feels as if it could spring into any direction. […] It's something new in cinema

|url-status = dead

|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080723172347/http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/9-10-99/hou.htm

|archivedate = 23 July 2008

|df = dmy-all

}}

• Sing-song girls
• List of submissions to the 71st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Taiwanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0156587|Flowers of Shanghai}}
• [http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/movie.asp?id=3107 HK cinemagic entry]
• [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7395-flowers-of-shanghai-inside-the-dream Flowers of Shanghai: Inside the Dream] an essay by Jean Ma at the Criterion Collection

{{Hou Hsiao-hsien}}

{{Taiwanese submissions for the Academy Award}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers Of Shanghai}}

Category:Taiwanese drama films

Category:1998 films

Category:Films set in the 1880s

Category:Films set in Shanghai

Category:Films directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien

Category:Films about prostitution in China

Category:Films with screenplays by Chu T’ien-wen

Category:Shanghainese-language films

Category:1990s Cantonese-language films