First Hong Kong film with LGBT characters, kung fu drama Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan shocked viewers in 1972
- Set in a brothel some time in China’s past, Chor Yuen’s film featured established star Lily Ho and newcomer Betty Pei Ti as a sex worker and her madame
- Ho’s character Ainu is the ultimate embodiment of sex as a weapon. ‘Shocking and alluring at the same time,’ was actress Candace Yu’s description of the film
Chor Yuen’s Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan shocked viewers when it was released in Hong Kong in 1972. Although the film is full of vengeful violence, it was the lesbian relationship at the core of the story that raised eyebrows – it was the first time LGBT characters of any kind had been portrayed in a Hong Kong film.
Chor’s skill at directing female actresses – he had made female-oriented wenyi (melodramas) all through the 1960s – and the intense and forthright performances of stars Lily Ho Li-li and newcomer Betty Pei Ti (not to be confused with Betty Ting Pei) – ensured that the film was a hit.
“To see the characters played by two gorgeous women was shocking and alluring at the same time,” said Candice Yu On-on, who starred in Chor’s own remake in 1984.
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, which is a period piece, is today considered a classic of martial arts cinema, even though the action is secondary to the drama. The story is set in a brothel at an unspecified time in Chinese history. Ainu (Ho) is kidnapped and sold into a brothel owned by the icy lesbian Lady Chun (Pei). Ainu is violated by four men before she accepts her fate as a sex worker.
A favourite of Lady Chun, who is a skilled martial artist, Ainu rises to become the brothel’s top courtesan, while learning kung fu from Chun. Ainu uses the social power she has acquired – she is now so popular with the men in the province that the police can’t touch her – and her sexual attraction to exact revenge on the four men who raped her by using her superior intelligence and martial arts skills.