*** Summer special offer 2025 ***

Immerse yourself in the fascinating world of arthouse cinema and secure some real DVD treasures. The prices in our shop have dropped: Until 31 July, you will receive a 50% discount on a hand-picked selection of 70 films. – The offer is adressed to private people only.

More
DVD

Flowers of Shanghai - Hai shang hua

Hsiao-hsien Hou – Taiwan – 1998

CHF 19.90 CHF 9.95
incl. VAT
EUR 18.50 EUR 9.25
excl. VAT

An intoxicating, time-bending experience bathed in the golden glow of oil lamps and wreathed in an opium haze, this gorgeous period reverie by Hou Hsiao-hsien traces the romantic intrigue, jealousies, and tensions swirling around four late-nineteenth-century Shanghai «flower houses», where courtesans live confined to a gilded cage, ensconced in opulent splendor but forced to work to buy back their freedom. Among the regular clients is the taciturn Master Wang (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), whose relationship with his longtime mistress (Michiko Hada) is roiled by a perceived act of betrayal. Composed in a languorous procession of entrancing long takes, Flowers of Shanghai evokes a vanished world of decadence and cruelty, an insular universe where much of the dramatic action remains tantalizingly offscreen – even as its emotional fallout registers with quiet devastation.

«A distillation  of the lost world.» Timeout

dvd-edition 396
Restored version
Language OV taiwanese Subtitles deutsch, français
Length 113 min. Format PAL, 1:1.85 - 16/9 LB, colour Sound DD 5.1 Surround Age 16 Region code All regions

Popular combinations

  • Goodbye South, Goodbye - Nanguo zaijian, nanguo DVD
    DVD

    A masterpiece by Hou Hsiao-hsien

  • Luzzu DVD
    DVD

    The plight of a young Maltese fisherman

  • Shanghai, Shimen Road DVD
    DVD

    Coming of age in 1980s' Shanghai that no longer exists

  • Costa Brava, Lebanon DVD
    DVD

    On the search for happiness. A confident allegory for modern-day Lebanon

  • Lunana DVD
    DVD

    Find what you seek in a place you never expected. Oscar Nomination.

  • Russian Avant-garde DVD
    DVD

    The Russian cinema of the 1920s - 3 silent movies in restored version

  • The Hunters - Oi kynigoi DVD
    DVD

    A study of the historical conscience of the Greek bourgeoisie

  • Sansho Dayu - Sansho the Bailiff DVD
    DVD

    One of the classics of japanese cinema in restored version

  • Banel & Adama DVD
    DVD

    Love under a blazing sun: a young couple struggles for freedom.

  • It Must Be Heaven DVD
    DVD

    From award-winning director Elia Suleiman, a comic saga exploring identity, nationality and belonging.

  • Touki Bouki - Journey of the Hyena DVD
    DVD

    The classic of the african cinema - in restored version

  • The Travelling Players - O Thiasos DVD
    DVD

    A film of epic proportions

Further products