The Bride with White Hair (1993)

The Bride with White Hair

      The Bride with White Hair is a 1993 Hong Kong film by Ronny Wu loosely based on a wuxi a novel by Leung Yu-Sang.  The story is about the ill fated love between top assassin Lein Ni-Chang and swordsman Cho Yi-Hang from rival organizations.  

Lien Ni-Chang at the beginning

Before I ever saw the Bride with White Hair, I had zero knowledge of China, it's people and culture. At that point my only exposure had been Jackie Chan in the Drunken Master movie.  All I knew was of that funny humorous idea.  All I had been expose to in terms of attraction and love between Asian people and in this particular case Chinese was that they only went as far as holding one hand and the side hug where the woman placed her head on the man's shoulder.  So, the Bride with White Hair was quite a surprise and in a great way. 

Cho Yi-Hang

The Bride with White Hair is told in flashbacks, and we start the story with Cho Yi-Hang played by Leslie Cheung waiting a top a snow covered mountain waiting for a magical flower that only blooms every 20 years.  He then starts to tell his story to envoys who were sent to collect the flower for the dying emperor.  Cho was raised by a Taoist priest to be a swordsman.  Cho meets Lien Ni-Chang played by Brigitte Lin when she is killing these soldiers that are attacking a village.  Cho begins to fall for Lein, who was sent to kill him by her master the Siamese twin Chi Wu-Suang played by Francis Ng and Elaine Lui.  However, Lien finds herself also falling for Cho.   Both Cho and Lien decided to put aside their duties to both their cults and live a normal life together.    Lien suffers through great hardships but succeeds in leaving the cult.  Cho on the other end returns to the coalition to find many of his comrades murdered, all telling him that Lien was responsible.  The film concludes in a bloody finally with the question of "who do you trust?" at the very heart of it. 

Lien and Cho

Watching the Bride with White was an amazing experience.  For the first time I was seeing Chinese people in a light I did not even image was possible.  Here we had characters that questioned whatever code of conduct or way of being and seeing the world they had been fed.  I too was just starting to just be exposed to a bigger world in seeing the movie.  We had Lien who was labeled as evil yet she was the one defending this people who were helpless against these soldiers.  She even helps that woman give birth.  On the other hand we have Cho female comrade from the sect who kills the man to retrieve the jade that Cho gives him so he and his child maybe able to eat.  

The other thing i was exposed to was a world where anyone other then the macho Caucasian was attraction, sensual and sexual.  The Bride with White Hair portrayed people, Chinese at that as being sensual beings.  We have Lien (Brigitte Lin) who is attractive and mesmerizing at every level.  She is shown as being aware that she had as body and is appreciative off it.  There is a party scene where people are drinking, there's music and even naked bodies but none of it is made to be vulgar or shameful.

Lien are Cho are shown falling for each other and not just by throwing a few warm glances.  They like each other and want to give each other pleasure and share it.  They are intimate with each other. 

I think my favorite scene is when Lien's hair turns white. I think Brigitte Lin played it just beautifully.   Lien comes to find Cho after successfully leaving the cult thought she had to pretty literally walk through hell to do it.  Lien asks Cho to leave with her like they promised but the question of whether he trusts her drops over them like a grenade and everything gets obliterated.   

Siamese Twin

Even though I always had a tendency toward fantasy, in terms of cinema in general the Bride with White Hair solidified by love for wuxia.  Even if there are good movies I will automatically lean towards ancient Chinese wuxia related films and series.