The Banquet (released as legend of the black scorpian in America) is a Chinese film set in 10th century China at the end of the Tang dynasty and is loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. It follows the life of a banished prince, Wu Luan, and the two women who love him, cold Empress Wan and Qing Nu, a young naive lady-in-waiting. I loved this entire film, but the scene I'm going to write about occurs near the end of the film (spoiler alert!) in which most of the main characters die. Some context first though.
Basically the current emperor usurped the throne by killing his brother and then married his late brothers widow, Empress Wan (yes the same one in love with Wu Luan) and wishing to keep his hold on the throne, endeavours to kill his nephew. He cannot, however, do this openly for fear of retribution from the court, but more importantly, from the Empress.
At the beginning of the scene the emperor believes he has succeeded and the empress, wishing to exact her revenge, poisons the emperors wine with a mixture of cyanide and scorpion venom, unsurpassed in toxcidity except by "the human heart". But before the emperor has the chance to drink, Qing Nu comes forward wishing to perform a tribute to the 'late' prince who was a lover of music and the arts. Out of pity, the emperor offers her a sip of his wine, much to the horror of her brother and father (a curent and former general) who are in league with the empress and know that the wine is poisoned.
The song Qing Nu sings is the prince's favorite, a Yue song of lonliness and unrequited love. She performs it wearing the bloodstained mask that the prince always wore when he was performing.
The reason I love this scene so much is because of its simplicity, there is hardly any movement except for the simplest dance moves and almost no music, just the voice of Qing Nu crying out with a lonliness that is palpable in her song.
The camera switches angles repeatedly as is circles around Qing Nu and the masked person she is dancing with, the dance brings them close together, intertwining withought ever really touching, always apart, except for in the last moment when Qing Nu slowly collapses from the poison, and the masked dancer catches her.
Removing first Qing's mask then his own, Wu Luan reveals himself as the dancer to comfort Qing while she dies, her blood a shocking contrast against their white clothes. The saddest part is that for perhaps the first time in years, in Qing's last moment, Wu Luan no longer feels lonely.
Music Swells to replace the silence when Qing Nu dies and the prince is left in tears and Qing's brother desperately repeats the promise he made to her, "brother loves you, no one can harm you."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjhg53GGd3U
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