This ‘exploitative’ curious oddity in the Shaw Brothers canon blends bloody vengeance wuxia action with taboo-breaking erotica as a powerful Madam operating a brothel lusts over a rebellious sex worker.
Review #2,800
Dir. Chor Yuen
1972 | Hong Kong | Action, Drama | 87 min | 2.35:1 | Mandarin
R21 (passed clean) for homosexual content, sexual scenes, nudity and some violence
Cast: Lily Ho, Betty Pei Ti, Elliot Ngok
Plot: The innocent Ai Nu is sold to a brothel run by evil Madam Chun Yi, who falls in love with her at first sight. Quickly becoming the brothel’s most desirable courtesan, Ai Nu climbs the ranks in Chinese society. Meanwhile, she secretly plots bloody revenge against all who have wronged her.
Awards: –
Distributor: Celestial Pictures
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Slightly Mature – Prostitution; Toxic Masculinity; Vengeance
Narrative Style: Straightforward
Pace: Normal
Audience Type: Cult Mainstream
Viewed: MUBI
Spoilers: No
Over the past months, I have seen catching up on several ‘70s and ‘80s Shaw Brothers martial arts films like The One-Armed Swordsman (1967), The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978) and The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter (1984) and enjoyed them so far.
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan marks the first time I’ve seen something much more cult-ish inasmuch as it draws from elements that are normally associated with exploitation films.
Directed by Chor Yuen, a reliable studio craftsman who made more than 40 films in three decades, Intimate Confessions blends bloody wuxia with sex and nudity.
Women are exploited as sex workers as they service pervy old men. The brothel, run by a twisted Madam (Betty Pei Ti), is nothing new. But what was new, or at least tantalising as a taboo-breaking attraction for audiences at the time, was the film’s exploration of same-sex lust.
“I think I’m becoming like you in hating men.”
Smitten by the rebellious and aggressive Ai Nu (played by Lily Ho, and also the name of the film’s Chinese title, translated as ‘Love Slave’), the Madam demands that she serves only the richest and most powerful clients in town who unfortunately have no qualms assaulting her (in some of the most impactful freeze-frames employed that reinforce Ai Nu’s trauma).
The Madam also desires Ai Nu for herself and shares the same man-hating attitude with her love slave. While Chor’s work may be rather perverse, it is also a story of vengeance, of righting wrongs in the name of female empowerment (through sex).
Cultists may perhaps compare Intimate Confessions to the likes of I Spit on Your Grave (1978), if only thematically, as Chor’s work is nowhere as abjectly horrifying, considering it was a studio effort meant to squeeze out more moolah from more mature mainstream audiences.
While not an especially terrific movie by any measure, Intimate Confessions makes up for it by being the curious oddity that it is—any survey of this fertile period in the history of the Shaw canon wouldn’t be complete without seeing this.
Grade: B
Trailer:
Eternality Tan 