Chi Hei bei mat sang woo (1995)

Chi Hei bei mat sang woo: Directed by Andrew Lau. With Chingmy Yau, Tony Ka Fai Leung, Rongguang Yu, Valerie Chow. Empress Dowager Cixi goes from just another pretty face in the harem of the concubines to the First Lady of Vice via various strategies and manipulations in a most-ambitious political conspiracy with spine-chilling viciousness.

“There is a whole string of Hong Kong u0026quot;historicalu0026quot; epics which are just excuses for sexy shenanigans in period costume, including Sex and the Emperor, the Sex and Zen trilogy, the Chinese Torture Chamber stories, and this, the tamest of them all. Chingamy Yau is one of the most striking of HK starlets (and she never does full nudity, even if it means concealments of Austen Powers-style absurdity), but is never really believable as a woman of fearsome power. The relative high production values and Yauu0026#39;s sensational mating dance are all which set this apart.”