The Empress Dowager

I am a huge fan of Gong Li to the extent that I am trying to obtain all the films she has ever been in. I was delighted to pick this film up from yes Asia.com which is a great place to get hard to find Chinese films. however this film is really bad. The plot makes little sense, it is very hard to follow the story. Gong Li isn't bad in this but she disappears halfway through the film and only her return would have improved this film. I have seen nearly all of Gong Li's films and this is the worst by a mile. Avoid this at all costs unless you are a sad completest like myself. I am giving this film a mark of two out of ten and those two marks are for Gong Li.