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Rationale for study

House of Flying Daggers is a Chinese wuxia/martial
arts film, featuring the genre elements of spectacular
fighting, breath-taking acrobatics and exotic fantasy.
It combines these with a tragic triangular love story
and a narrative where nothing is as it first appears.

Cinematography
• Film as spectacle, the “look” of the film is of
paramount importance. Cinematographer Zhao
Xiaoding’s use of the wide screen to dramatic
effect. The plot twists and turns but, like those of
most operas, plot points are the devices that take
the spectator from one gorgeous scene to another.
• Exotic interior of the Peony Pavilion: high
key lighting, sumptuous colour. Whip pans
follow the beans as they hit the drums, high
angle shots show the pattern of Mei’s dance.
• Bamboo forest, green filter, high angle shots of
swaying bamboo, soldiers. Sweeping, whirling,
fast tracking movements follow the daggers.

Mise-en-Scène
• Emphasis on production values, visually
beautiful settings and costumes, elaborate film
set create the fantasy. Peony Pavilion rich,
exotic ancient China. Beautiful, extravagant
Tang Dynasty costumes, authentic detail of
interiors props, musical instruments. Costumes
by Emi Wada, a Japanese designer who has
worked for director Akira Kurosawa.
• Landscapes bamboo forests, birch forests,
meadows and fields with mountain ranges
in the background. Green forests, red and
gold autumn leaves in the meadows, white
snow provide the setting for the emotion
and the imagination of the film.
• Dramatic effect through visual imagery,
colour and composition. Highly stylised
choreography of fight scenes.

Editing
• Mei’s dance intercuts long shot of her
performing in the circle with a closer shot of
the drummers outside the circle. Movement
of beans towards drums, close up of faces.
• Use of CGI to follow swift trajectory of daggers.
• In the bamboo forest cuts between
vertical and horizontal above ground
swaying soldiers, ground level traps.

Sound
• Mei at the beginning is portrayed as
blind; sounds serve as a clue to her
understanding. Peony Pavilion echo game
sounds used to emphasise her reliance on
them. Tension, excitement, chattering of
women, drumming, slapping, silence.
• Action scenes, action emphasised by sounds
of bamboo fronds, counterpoint of flying
daggers, whoosh of bamboo spears, clash
of bamboo poles. Also sounds of flying
bamboos, falling leaves, sound of sword
cutting the air – Mei’s perception of the fight

• Music by Shigeni Umebayashi mostly low
  register: cello, drums. Women’s voices
  used towards conclusion of action scenes,
  action not signalled by music which acts
  as a commentary at the conclusion.

Representations
• In Peking Opera all roles originally played
by men. Strong female characters central
to the tradition of wuxia. They fight with
swords and take part in combat. In the
Flying Daggers the leaders are now women.
Mei demonstrates female sexual power.
• Representation of China. Zhang Yimou
has called cinema “an excellent channel for
promoting China’s culture” with “cultural and
historical information” for Western audiences.
However he has been accused of “selling Oriental
exoticism” and received criticism that his
version of China “feeds his Western audience’s
image of exotic, primitive, timeless China”.
• Male and female passion is subject to
tradition and duty. Male characters are “Just
pawns on the chessboard”. The concluding
fight to the death between Leo and Jin
is about honour as well as jealousy.

Aesthetics (i.e. the ‘look and feel’
of the film including visual style,
influences, auteur, motifs)
• Mandarin title of the film translates as
‘Ambushed from Ten Directions’. Motif of
multiple deceptions, false identities, nothing
is as it first appears: Leo appears to be an
imperial soldier but is really a mole, the
former lover of Mei; Mei a rebel pretending
to be a courtesan, pretending to be blind; Nia
appears to be the madam of the Peony Pavilion,
then the leader of the Flying Daggers, then
only pretending to be the leader; Jin is an
Imperial soldier who pretends to be a rebel.
• Wuxia pian: Wu=martial + xia = chivalrous.
Origins of the Wuxia pian genre are to be found
in North Chinese Mandarin culture after the
9th century. Rival warlords ruled China and
unattached swordsmen could be hired as killers,
heroes who followed codes of honour and
chivalry defending the helpless against corrupt
leaders and officials. Swords, magic, fantasy and
the supernatural are central to wuxia mythology.
Today this is a highly popular fiction in Mainland
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
• The director, Zhang Yimou is a household name
in China, responsible not only for films but for
the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics
of 2008, also for huge open air spectacles such as
the Impression Lie Sanji Show held on the banks
of the Li River featuring more than 600 amateur
performers. A graduate of the Beijing Film
Academy, one of the so called ‘5th generation
filmmakers’ he began as a cinematographer
and moved on to directing films about Chinese
life, particularly that of women. House of
Flying Daggers is his second action film.

POINTS – Contexts
Social
• China the most populated country of over 1.381
billion, and the world’s second largest state.
Historical
• During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1978)
the Beijing Film Academy closed, hardly any
films were made. The Academy reopened in
1978. For 10 years the teachers there had not
had any students. They did want to resume
teaching in the old way, which, against the
new styles emerging from Hong Kong and
elsewhere now appeared old fashioned. Like their
counterparts in other cinemas they wanted to
experiment. In 1982 the first academy students
since the reopening graduated. These were the
so-called “5th Generation” and included Chen
Kaige and Zhang Yimou. The 5th generation
had been through the hardships and upheavals
of the Cultural Revolution. Their reaction
was to make “exploratory films” that would
examine issues so far unexplored in Chinese
cinema. The Fifth Generation became the
first Chinese film-makers to achieve fame and
become widely known outside China. China
was the subject of their films, although very
different view of China than the socialist
realism of Mao before the Cultural Revolution.
Political
• After the Cultural Revolution foreign films were
imported to supply cinemas. Discussions were
held concerning artistic freedom. Zhang’s earlier
films were often criticised by the government
for their treatment of the realities of social
life in China. Since then he has enjoyed huge
3
A Level Film Studies – Focus Film Factsheet
success with his wuxia films, example of global
or transnational cinema’s demand for ethnic
cultural elements and lustrous visuals. “Exotic”
and “arty” China, popular with audiences.
Technological
• Use of CGI and digital effects and wire
work enhance acrobatics and fantasy.
Institutional
• Half the world’s films are produced on the
continent of Asia. India, Japan, Thailand, South
Korea and the 3 Chinese cinemas of Mainland
China, Hong Kong and Taiwan all have large
film industries. Success of Chinese global film
making. The “home” audience for these films
is potentially huge; cinema-goers in the region
spend millions per year on cinema tickets.
The industry has invested in digital cinema
and the revival of Chinese language films.