Men pant while women plot in Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan
You have to admit Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972) is one hell of a title. It suggests a sordid tale steeped in eroticism. The film itself is sordid enough but eroticism takes a back seat to good old-fashioned bloody revenge.
Lady Chun (Betty Pei Ti) runs an upscale brothel and kidnaps young girls forcing them into sexual slavery. The film is starting to feel uncomfortably nasty already but strap in we’re just getting started.
One of Lady Chun’s latest acquisitions is Ai Nu (Lily Ho) who struggles more than the others. The brothel thugs make the usual observations about how “feisty” and “troublesome” this one is turning out to be but Lady Chun has a lesbian crush on Ai Nu and assures her men that the unco-operative girl will soon fall into line. Ai Nu’s virginity gets auctioned off to the highest bidder and since she’s deemed the prettiest girl in the new batch her defilers are men of means and influence. (They’re still scumbag bullies who pay outrageous amounts of cash in order to rape unwilling women of course it’s just that their position causes Ai Nu’s status at the brothel to go up along with her price.) Broken and weeping Ai Nu is saved from a suicide attempt by a mute brothel servant — the only man who has shown her any kindness since her abduction. The servant turns out not to be mute at all but rather a revenge-minded swordsman who has been wronged by Lady Chun and her gang. Determined to free at least one innocent woman from the brothel the mute tries to sneak Ai Nu out in the dead of night only to be caught and killed in the attempt.
Wow. This is getting really dark. The dying “mute” insists that Ai Nu must stay alive so that she can avenge his death and she agrees with quiet determination. Outwardly Ai Nu seems to become compliant to the brothel’s rules but her defiant nature is only in hiding for the time being. We now know what kind of movie this is: a revenge film. Lady Chun and the four rich libertines who raped Ai Nu are doomed.
The plot becomes just as linear and simple as the situation demands. Ai Nu will play the flirty and obedient courtesan all while plotting the annihilation of those who wronged her. It won’t be easy; the rapists are powerful and well-connected and are surrounded by bodyguards. Still they are men and Ai Nu uses their male appetites and pride against them. One by one the men get murdered. Everybody’s pretty sure that Ai Nu is the killer but they are reluctant to get her arrested for selfish reasons. (For example one victim’s family hushes up a murder because they don’t want it known that their patriarch died of an aphrodisiac-induced heart attack while banging five hookers.) The local police chief tries his best to arrest Ai Nu but she manages to keep him from acquiring any useful evidence. (In an offhand quasi-threat she lets him know that she only wants evil men to die by her hand and suggests that he stay out of her way.) Of course Lady Chun won’t be quite so easy having mastered the martial art of “ghost hands” allowing her to puncture flesh and bone with just her fingertips….
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan starts off slowly before building to an outrageously action-packed and gory climax. You’ll see where the story is going early on but find yourself compelled to watch until the bloody revenge is completed. There’s some impressive swordplay as well as the usual low-tech special effects (wire harnesses and hidden trampolines) that give cinematic kung fu experts their superhuman abilities. This is also one of the few films you’ll see in which a swordsman finds himself impaled with a severed arm. The film is said to be the inspiration for the much-crazier Naked Killer (1992) and was also remade by the same filmmakers as the ridiculously titled Lust for Love of a Chinese Courtesan (1984).
