When the beautiful Ulanara (BingBing Fan) spies her husband, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (Jue Huang), filled with longing and undying love and studying the portrait of his late first wife, she is overcome with jealousy. She implores the Emperor to commission a portrait of her as well, in the hope of arousing the same desire in him. The Emperor chooses French Jesuit painter, Jean Denis Attiret (Melvil Poupaud), for the delicate task that is to follow.
Bingbing Fan, Melvil Poupaud, Yue Wu, Shih-Chieh King, Jue Huang, Thibault de Montalembert, Féodor Atkine, FeiFei Yao
French, Mandarin
English
China, France
Cinefile