With Temptation of a Monk, Clara Law succeeded in uniting two genres in one film. As well as an examination of the contemplative and artistic genre, Law has also made a grandiose action film set in the time of the Tang dynasty. In doing so, Law, a maestro of intimate contemporary drama (such as Autumn Moon, screened last year in Rotterdam), proves that she also commands the grand cinematographic gesture.The story is based on a book by the writer Lilian Lee, popular in Hong Kong, who also cooperated on the screenplay. While the old emperor is dying, the battle for succession started between two brothers. The imperial general Shi is a subordinate to one of the two brothers, but he doesnt consider his own master competent to rule the empire. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed he defects to the other side. His former master is then murdered.Remorse for his treason makes Shi take his leave of the princess he loves so much (a role played by Joan Chen, who returns in a Chinese film after many American ones) and he has to flee his fellow general Huo. After much wandering and spectacular action scenes (with stylised fighting in slow motion, as in westerns by Peckinpah) he takes shelter in a poor monastery. Shi has already had to come to terms with the suicide of his mother and the murder of Scarlet and he decides to become a monk and to dedicate himself to meditation, but his past keeps pursuing him. Death appears to him in the form of Scarlet while General Huo is still hunting him.
