The Banquet

The Banquet (Chinese: 夜宴), released on DVD in the United States as Legend of the Black Scorpion, is a 2006 Chinese wuxia drama film. The film was directed by Feng Xiaogang and stars Zhang Ziyi, Ge You, Daniel Wu and Zhou Xun. It is a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet and Henrik Ibsen's play Ghosts, featuring themes of revenge and fate. It is set in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in 10th century China. Plot At the end of the Tang dynasty, China is divided. The Crown Prince, Wu Luan, is deeply in love with the noblewoman Little Wan. However, his father, the Emperor, decides to marry her. Wu Luan, deeply hurt, flees to a remote theater to study music and dance. Meanwhile, the Emperor is murdered by his brother, Li, who takes the throne. He also dispatches riders to assassinate Wu Luan, who survives the attack. Returning to court, Wu Luan is met by Empress Wan and her lady-in-waiting Qing Nu who is officially still engaged to him. The tension in the Imperial Court is high, and when a palace official greets Empress Wan as 'Empress Dowager', he and his family are sentenced to a violent death. With his death, Minister Yin's son, General Yin Sun, is sent to fill the position in a distant province, greatly weakening Yin Taichang's position in the court. Wu Luan is asked by the Emperor to perform a brief swordplay ceremony, to practice for the Empress' upcoming coronation. While practicing, the Imperial Guard suddenly produce sharpened swords and attempt to kill Wu Luan and make it look like an accident. The ceremony is stopped by the Empress. Later in his chambers, a scroll is mysteriously delivered to Wu Luan, depicting his father being murdered by his uncle. Wu Luan enquires at an apothecary, who reveals that the poison used for the murder is made from Arsenic trioxide and black scorpions. Nothing on earth is more deadly except for "the human heart". Meanwhile, the Empress Wan is to have a new coronation ceremony. As a special treat, Wu Luan is required to perform a swordplay ceremony. Instead, as an accomplished singer and dancer, Wu Luan stages a masked mime play that exposes his uncle as his father's murderer. The Emperor is notably shaken, but manages to conjure a plan to remove Wu Luan. Rather than kill the prince and risk alienating Empress Wan, he decides Wu Luan would be traded as a hostage for the prince of a neighbouring kingdom, the Khitans, although it is known that the neighbour prince is an imposter.