Intimate Confessions

Intimate Confessions was an extremely controversial film upon its release for its (at the time) shocking portrayal of lesbianism, a taboo enough subject for American audiences, let alone Chinese.  By today’s standards, however, the portrayal of Ai Nu and Madam Chun’s relationship is tame at best.  With the controversy element eliminated, the movie can now be judged purely on its filmic merits.

What stands out most about Intimate Confessions are it’s high production values, with is lush, lavish period sets and costumes.  The cinematography is very good and often quite beautiful, though whether because of budget, schedule or producer indifference, certain hiccups (such as bumps in the middle of a dolly move) are overlooked and allowed to pass in a manner that would never occur in a Hollywood production.

On the other hand, while the two leads, Lily Ho and Betty Pei Ti, give admirable performances, the rest of the cast, particularly the men, are pretty poor (when weak acting stands out even through a language barrier, you know it’s a truly bad performance).  And the story is predictable from the very beginning.  To make matters worse, the period of time in which Ai Nu is training is largely glossed over, especially in terms of character development.