A Touch of Zen
俠女
1971 · Taiwan · 200 min · 2.35:1 · Color
Directed by King Hu
Introduction
A Touch of Zen is a 1971 Taiwanese and Hong Kong co-production written and directed by King Hu, produced by Union Film, with Hsu Feng as Yang Hui-zhen, Shih Chun as the scholar Gu Sheng-zhai, and Roy Chiao as the monk Hui Yuan. It is set in the Ming dynasty. Yang, the daughter of an official destroyed by the Eastern Depot, is in hiding at the derelict garrison where Gu lives, and the Depot's agents track her there. The first half turns on the ambush and the manoeuvring inside the garrison, and the second moves out to open country and a mountain temple, bringing in the monks. A fight in a bamboo grove is built from short takes and leaping movement, a treatment widely reused since. The film runs about three hours and was originally released in two parts. It received the Grand Prize of the Technical Commission at Cannes in 1975.
From Combat to Enlightenment
King Hu had the garrison set built in Taiwan and then left it standing for a year, letting plants grow over it to age it; the shoot itself ran about three years. Released in Taiwan in two parts, the film did poor business, and Union Film went out of business not long after.
The award at Cannes in 1975 brought it renewed attention. The Taiwan Film Institute completed a digital restoration in 2015, shown that year in the Cannes Classics programme.
Titles
- Mainland China
- 侠女
- Hong Kong
- 俠女
- Taiwan
- 俠女
- English
- A Touch of Zen
- Original
- 俠女
Cast
- Hsu Fengas Yang Hui-zhen
- Shih Chunas Gu Sheng-zhai
- Roy Chiaoas Abbot Hui Yuan