Sex and Zen

Sex and Zen
Traditional 玉蒲團之偷情寶鑑
Simplified 玉蒲团之偷情宝鑑
Mandarin Ròupútuán zhī tōuqíng bǎojiàn
Cantonese Juk6 Pou4 Tyun4 Zi1 Tau1 Cing4 Bou2 Gaam3
Directed by Michael Mak
Produced by Stephen Shiu
Screenplay by Lee Ying Kit
Story by Li Yu
Starring Lawrence Ng
Kent Cheng
Amy Yip
Carrie Ng
Music by Joseph Chan
Cinematography Peter Ngor
Edited by Poon Hung
Distributed by Golden Harvest
Release dates
  • 30 November 1991 (1991-11-30)
Running time
 99 minutes
Country Hong Kong
Language Cantonese
Box office HK$18,424,224

Sex and Zen (Chinese: 玉蒲團之偷情寶鑑, "The Carnal Prayer Mat's Stash of Illicit Love") is a 1991 Hong Kong erotic comedy film directed by Michael Mak and starring Lawrence Ng and Amy Yip. The film is loosely based on The Carnal Prayer Mat, a Chinese erotic novel by 17th century author and playwright Li Yu.

Plot

The story is about a lustful scholar (played by Lawrence Ng) who dares to challenge the moral teachings of the Sack Monk. The monk attempts to lecture the scholar that spiritual enlightenment transcends the passions of the flesh but the scholar, who enjoys women, doesn't agree. However, the most powerful man in the town marries his daughter, played by Amy Yip, to the scholar. The daughter is a virgin and has been taught that sex is dirty.

The scholar, after a disastrous yet humorous wedding night, soon initiates his bride into the pleasures of sex, aided greatly by the illustrations of a copy of a sex manual. The amorous husband goes about his 'scholastic travels' where he meets the greatest thief known to man. The thief is able to sneak into people's houses undetected, and the scholar wants to learn this skill so that he can sleep with other men's wives. The thief was initially willing to help him, until he catches the scholar one day and discovers that the scholar is not very well-endowed.

The thief tells the scholar that stealing other men's wives requires good lovemaking skills and equipment. The thief promises to help the scholar only if he has a horse's penis. Of course, the thief didn't think it was possible, until the scholar returned one day, indeed, with a horse's penis attached as his own. Apparently, the scholar met a doctor who was able to replace anatomical parts (a scene with a cameo by Hong Kong comedian Kent Cheng).

The doctor managed to transplant a horse's penis to replace the scholar's meager one. Armed with his new 20-inch penis, the scholar goes on a sexual rampage, not caring if he is seducing other men's wives or is nearly caught in the process. Meanwhile, the scholar's wife, after experiencing the joys of sex, becomes sexually frustrated. She tried masturbating with paintbrushes but is left unsatisfied until she has an affair with the gardener, the husband of one of the wives the scholar seduced. She becomes pregnant and runs away with the man, who out of revenge sells her to a brothel, the madam assaults her leading to a miscarriage, originally unwilling she is coerced into becoming a prostitute and comes to enjoy her new life.

The scholar has become frail and sick due to too much sex (involving two sisters-in-law who are bisexual and into S&M). He goes to the brothel for treatment, where he is offered the top courtesan. At first, husband and wife cannot recognize each other; she looked at his penis and thought it couldn't be her husband's because his was small; he couldn't recognize her because his eyesight was failing. While they were having sex, he takes a close look at her figure and nipple and recognizes her. To her dismay, he screams, shouts and calls her a disgrace. To his dismay, she runs off and hangs herself. The man, completely broken, goes back to the monk to ask for forgiveness.

Box office

In Hong Kong, the film grossed HK$18,424,224.[1] This was enormous business considering the film was saddled with the restrictive Category III rating (the Hong Kong equivalent of NC-17 in the USA).

Sequels

Sex and Zen went on to spin off two sequels, Sex and Zen II and Sex and Zen III. These are not sequels in plot, as each movie illustrates a different story also based on the sex manual.

The movies were also budding platforms for former Category III actresses such as Shu Qi who has since made it as an A-list Hong Kong movie star. However, even the stigma of having been a sex symbol actor cannot be completely erased. Lawrence Ng once mentioned in an interview that he was embarrassed for having made the film and wishes that he instead be known for his serious character roles in modern and period drama TV series.

Cast

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sex and Zen (1991)". Hong Kong Movie Database. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
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