"Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan is one of Shaw Brothers’ more infamous and influential films, one that shocked audiences when it was released in 1972. It’s since been remade by the same director (as 1984′s Lust for Love of a Chinese Courtesan) and was apparently the inspiration for Clarence Fok’s Naked Killer. It’s garnered its reputation for its marriage of the kung-fu genre with eroticism, usually a recipe for thoroughly B-grade cinema.Intimate Confessions’ acting, production values and slightly loopy plot manage to elevate it above such description, however." (http://www.heroic-cinema.com)
The story concerns Ai Nu, a young girl kidnapped from her family and sold into service at a bustling brothel run by luminous madam Chun-i (Betty Pei Ti). Chun-i herself isn’t the slightest bit interested in men, preferring the company of women — and she’s captivated immediately by Ai Nu’s rebellious spirit and potential as a high-class courtesan.
In a typical Shaw Brothers twist, though, Chun-i is also an expert fighter and perfectly willing to hurt or kill those who betray her. This point is very quickly made to Ai Nu, along with the easy life she could have if she follows orders and submits to the madam’s advances.
Ai Nu quickly becomes the most desirable and exclusive courtesan in the brothel and is violated in a serious of quick, ugly scenes (complete with slow motion footage of gleefully laughing older men), culminating in a botched attempt to take her own life. These scenes are deliberately (I suspect) made thoroughly distasteful, and each ends in a freeze-frame: the director wants us to remember these men and what they’ve done to the unwilling young girl. A desire for vengeance is quickly kindled in Ai Nu as she becomes all that Chun-i wishes her to be, all the while plotting her revenge.
Feminist Discourse:
Ai Nu and Chun-i both have little desire to be exploited by men but do so because it donates power. Chun-i is the manager of the brothel and demonstrates intolerance for anyone who disobeys her. She has little mercy on the women of her brothel and several scenes show her having them bathed and groomed much like commodities. The power play is the most interesting, especially in Ai Nu's case. Ai Nu is violated by men and in turn plots a slow revenge that is exacted near the end of the film. Her training in martial arts as well as her submission to another woman allow her to obtain this kind of power over men.
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