The Emperor's Wife (2003)
In an undisclosed location and time, in the land of 1001 nights, the law dictates that the Emperor must take a new wife if his current Empress does not bear a son within seven years of marriage. At the celebration Ball of their sixth wedding anniversary, the Emperor (MAX BEESLEY - Torque) and his faithful manservant, Chamberlain (JONATHAN RHYS-MEYERS - Vanity Fair, Bend It Like Beckham, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead) begin the covert operation to find and prepare a virgin candidate to become the new Empress.A suitable young woman, Sabah (LETICIA DOLERA) is secretly transported into an isolated wing in the Imperial Palace. In this prison of fairytale rooms, she is tutored by the Masters and spied upon by the Emperor and Chamberlain. Should the current Empress (ROSANA PASTOR) conceive, everyone in the secret wing will be executed.
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Must See Movie...
Boring
The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
the atmosphere is the key for a fairy tale who preserves traditional recipes but use new ingredients. slow, strange, seductive, remembering art cinema but proposing different perspective, it is more a challenge for viewer than entertainment. and that is the purpose. because, full of cultural references, it has its precise target. cocktail of Sci Fi themes, using myths and images from old stories, it seems be a game. or a parable. or, maybe, only obscure, beautiful film. in fact, it is only a kind of flavor of images. a bridge between worlds. careful made, exploring force of symbols, cold and mysterious, it is one of films who are not easy to define but too easy to reject.
From the very beginning to the end I expected something interesting to happen in this film. But I must tell you that NOTHING good took place. From the screenplay to the actors performance, "The Emperor's Wife" makes us feel like giving up watching the DVD and going for a good sleep.It's actually the story of a emperor who decides to find a new wife once he realises his wife cannot give him a baby. Could it be a good story? Yes, it could, but, unfortunately, it isn't. The film is extremely slow and the situation are not natural. Sometimes we just can't believe our eyes. The scenes are pathetic and the face expressions are not true.
I was lucky to get a copy of this film, and after reading some reviews, I had great expectations about it. Without a doubt this film would've been on of the greatest art movie, but it fails to deliver. My first impression was that Julie Taymor's TITUS, had a big impact on this movie, and I would've loved to see the same kind of acting and direction. Unfortunately the movie dilutes from the initial high level, to something that's nothing more but a cheap art film. I would've like to see more of the costumes and the décor and less of the bad acting of some of the actors Interesting camera movements, reminiscent of Greenaway's films, a quite pleasant music score, original screenplay, but in the end you are left with the desire of MORE. For movie lovers I think is worth take look at it, and in this commercial world it's a nice exception from the mainstream films.7/10
Stunned I was when I saw this movie. The story-line, the atmosphere, the soundtrack, the acting and actors and especially the art-direction were amazing. From the first moment I was caught by this fairytail for grown ups. You wanna dream away in the cinema...just visit this movie!