I first saw this film in San Francisco when I was working in a movie theater and have fell in love with it ever since. In ancient times, Lotus wants revenge for the wrongs that were done to her and she gets her wish. Flash many years later in China, a young woman has visions that she IS the reincarnation of Lotus, and many events in her life mirrors what happened to her in her previous life. Also, many of the people involved in her life look a lot like the people in the past. Will the past repeat itself? Will she go down the same path as before in her last life? It is a haunting beautiful film and worth owning. You really won't mind the subtitles at all because the film tells the story VERY well.

A lovely girl growing up in modern China is haunted by flashes of another time, images that start entering her life for real as she comes of age. It gets harder and harder to tell the past and present apart, and she finds that now, as before, her beauty can be more of a curse than a blessing.

The haunting idea that you must let go of the past in order to be free of it, is driven home by the deeply moving performances of a fine cast. The film is lush and beautiful, rewarding the viewer with fascinating glimpses of the Imperial past and the industrial present.

This film was banned in China because it implies that the Revolution hasn't really changed things—power is still in the hands of the few, only the names and costumes have changed.

I found this film as a rental and had to get my own copy. Its appeal is enduring, and I've enjoyed it more every time I've watched it.

Joey Wong is incredibly lovely as a girl who grew up during the Cultural Revolution and was abused because of her beauty, e.g., being raped and then charged with seducing men. Eager to leave China, she marries a wealthy Hong Kong businessman. She is troubled by subliminal impulses, as well as vivid dreams, of an ancient time when, as the Golden Lotus, she was defiled and killed. She senses that, as the reincarnation of the courtesan in her dreams, she will exact revenge on the three men from the ancient past who reappear in her life in China and again in Hong Kong. One dilemma is the would-be hero who lacked the courage to save her in her visions and in her recent life in China.