Lust for Love of a Chinese Courtesan (1984)

A homeless young woman (Nancy Hu) is forced into prostitution at a ritzy brothel run by a bisexual Madam (Candy Yu) who keeps a swordsman close at hand to deal with any trouble.

The awkwardly titled Lust for Love of a Chinese Courtesan is director Chor Yuen’s revisitation of his 1972 cult classic Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, an erotic and violent mix of wuxia swordplay and sexploitation set in a brothel. Lust for Love is essentially a loose remake. Yet despite any connections to Chor’s previous film, this one is nothing but a pale imitation, where campy fun is replaced with laborious melodrama.

Chor keeps the basic premise of a young homeless woman (Nancy Hu) being kidnapped and delivered to the Merryland brothel to be forced into prostitution. At first she resists all attempts, but gives in after being raped by several clients and beaten and seduced by the owner, Madam Chun (Candy Yu). And just like in Intimate Confessions, the young woman begins killing a few of her clients, is investigated by a dashing young constable (Alex Man), and eventually turns the tables on the Madam. A new twist is Madam Chun’s man toy, a swordsman named Xiao Ye (Chang Kuo-chu) whom she regularly sleeps with in return for killing her enemies.

All-in-all, this film is a complete disaster in comparison to Chor’s previous film. It tinkers around with elements from Intimate Confessions, but to such a lesser degree that it could be called “Intimate Confessions Lite.” There is some mild softcore sex and a wee bit of gruesome action, but it’s all boring, vanilla fluff. Nancy Hu makes a very unconvincing and brief transition from hopeless victim to second-in-command at the brothel. Candy Yu is a doll and the thought of her getting it on with another woman might excite a few people, but she’s miscast as the Madam. She doesn’t have any of the wicked authority that Betty Pei possessed. And her character doesn’t even know kung fu! What made Intimate Confessions so enjoyable was to see swordplay imbedded right into brothel politics. Madam and her protege could stand up to any man and eventually took each other on in one of the most notoriously bloody finale’s in Shaw Brothers history. But in Lust for Love the confrontation between Madam and protege is never really a confrontation at all and it certainly doesn’t involve physical violence. Rather, the story is mucked up by Madam Chun’s closeted sentimentality as she recalls a more innocent time with her true love, Xiao Ye.

This is an erotic film first and a swordplay film second. That means one can expect liberal amounts of drawn out sex and a dash of action in between. There’s a lot of flashing flesh (but no naughty bits from the leads), groaning, groping, sweating, and lip-smacking set to cheap lounge music. It’s actually rather dull as it lacks the campy excess of Intimate Confessions. Basically, Chor makes the mistake of trying to take the eroticism seriously and it doesn’t work. Perhaps worst of all, Nancy Hu is raped in a distasteful manner and there’s no emphasis to her getting revenge on the men responsible. No one in their right mind should want to see an innocent woman sexually assaulted without her later kicking the crap out of her attackers in grand fashion.

There is some average swordplay, but mostly involving a disgruntled supplier of women who is scorned by Candy Yu. His brother gets his arm lopped off and they return with a few thugs including choreographers Yuen Wah and Yuen Bun. Walter Tso as the Madam’s protector takes them on. He also briefly spars with Alex Man. There is nothing to see that compares with the excessive bloodletting in Intimate Confessions. The only interesting element to the action is Walter’s attack. Not fearing death, he strikes a death blow when his opponents least expect it, when their guard is up. It usually works, but he goes through a healthy supply of bandages in the process.

Other annoyances include a plethora of short flashbacks that ruin the pacing and immediacy of the narrative. The “period” sets, costumes, and make up also have a certain mild, contemporary ’80s look to them that just doesn’t seem right.

Lust for Love of a Chinese Courtesan, it’s a disappointing and unnecessary film from Chor Yuen who could not outdo himself and should not have tried. It’s everything a lurid genre film shouldn’t be, not wild enough for avid fans, but still too offensive for casual audiences. That means it doesn’t have an audience and doesn’t deserve one.