LUST FOR LOVE OF A CHINESE COURTESAN
Oi nou san chun (Cantonese) Ai nu xin chuan (Mandarin) “Love Servant New Story” 1984, Intercontinental Video #101953/Poker Industries, DD-2.0/MA/16:9/LB/ST/+, $18.99, 87m 53s, DVD-3 By John Charles
With the boxoffice returns for their pictures suffering a steady decline during the early 1980s, Shaw Brothers had director Chor Yuen remake his 1972 hit INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN [VW 104:64] in the hopes of duplicating its success and international sales. The sensual Madam Chun (Candace Yu On-on) indulges in all manner of immoral acts, ranging from acting as a go- between for assassinations to using abducted girls for her brothel. One of her newest workers is feisty young Ai Nu (Nancy Hu Kuan-chen), who manages to escape after being gang-raped, only to be recap- tured shortly thereafter. When Ai Nu murders one of her
customers, Chun feels sorry for her and covers up the crime. However, straight arrow con- stable Lin Yun (Alex Man Chi- leung)—who once gave Ai Nu some food when he found her cold and starving one night— smells a rat. He decides to be- gin his own investigation, despite having been rebuked by the district’s corrupt magistrate. By now, Chun has developed more than a proprietary inter- est in her beautiful underling and the pair eventually begin sleeping together. Ai Nu also becomes attracted to Yun, en- raging Chun, who orders her male lover, swordsman/assas- sin Xiao Ye (Chang Kuo-chu), to murder the lawman. Ye is infatuated with Ai Nu himself and finds his bloodlust starting to fade. Chun and Ai Nu are changing, too, with each now assuming the other’s disposi- tion and outlook. Everything about the re- make seems a step down, but LUST FOR LOVE OF A CHI- NESE COURTESAN remains above average for Hong Kong erotica and of additional interest
for the way it expands upon the original premise. While Yueh Hua’s inspector had a distant fas- cination for Ai Nu in the original, the relationship between her and Chun was the story’s primary un- dercurrent; here, we have twice as many characters lusting after one another. This allows for more development (primarily through flashbacks, which show that Ai Nu and Chun come from similar back- grounds and circumstances) but the largely melodramatic treat- ment ultimately fails to equal the effectiveness of the original’s more basic revenge scenario (which still managed to straddle several genres). In its place, we have an equally familiar, but less compelling, parable about how the corruption of money leads to the loss of one’s humanity and capacity to love. The perfor- mances are mostly laudable but Candace Yu is unable to sum- mon the authority and icy sen- suality that Betty Pei Ti so effortlessly brought to the role. It was also a mistake to not have her be proficient in kung fu. However, in all fairness, this incarnation of the character is
Nancy Hu (left) and Candace Yu vamp for their mutual male lover in LUST FOR LOVE OF A CHINESE COURTESAN.
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