A Touch of Zen

1970 ‘俠女’ Directed by King Hu

Ming dynasty noblewoman Yang must escape from the evil eunuch Hsu. She seeks refuge at a decrepit town where she gets assistance from a naïve scholar and a group of mysterious yet powerful monks.

Hsu Feng Tien Peng Roy Chiao Shih Chun Cho Kin Miao Tien Sit Hon Han Ying-Chieh Pai Ying Sammo Hung Jackie Chan

Alternative Titles

Chivalrous Lady, Les Maîtres du Zen, Xia Nu, Kultainen hämähäkki, A Tocha de Zen, Les Héroïques, Xia nü, SHA-NU, Касание Дзен

adventure action

180 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by matt lynch ★★★★★ 2

casts nature as mysterious, tangled but carefully deliberate, and casts reformers combating totalitarianism as potential ghosts, the past returning to claim its place, the dead returning to vanquish their living betrayers. Hu famously continues to restore to film from Chinese literature the female knight, another piece of the past that now points forward. and the male hero finds his strength only after he sleeps with her and meets the Abbot; the power here is sexual, literally balls to bones, naturally emanating from within. the villain, corrupt and unseen, is a eunuch; his power is baseless, empty, founded on lies. sex vs death. the film folds themes in so gradually that you truly float down the river without ever seeming to get wet.
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 2

100
As dreamy as the rivers in which we seek nourishment and as haunting as the figures which impede the voids which we yearn to observe in the darkness. One of those movies that check every box on the list and even invent a few new categories just for the hell of it.
Review by kailey ★★★★½ 9

the story begins with a spider-web.
there is a man, with weak smiles and expert painting hands. there is a doctor who only arrived in town last month and holds mysteries in his eyes. there is an agent who hides behind laundry-lines and mercilessly hunts for his prey. there is an old fort with ghosts lurking in the rafters. and there is a woman armed with nothing but determination and steel, running for her life.
the story will not end with defeat.
the army is marching across rivers and plains and rocks. they claim they stand for the laws of the land and they hide behind the rules so they can commit injustices. earthly matters of greed and power are…
Review by Sean Gilman ★★★★★ 9

Someday, some enterprising company is going to restore and rerelease these King Hu movies and then they're going to get a whole lot of my money.
Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★★½

I love how this starts as something of an horror mystery develops towards earthly matters and later achieves heaven.
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 5

a corporeal, elemental and mystical dance of death... and eventually life. not quite the movie i was expecting after Dragon Inn which despite having higher aesthetic ambitions as well is almost a pure, rollicking kung fu action movie in comparison to this which seems interested in the fighting in so much as it contributes to the larger sense of feeling and dreaming these characters, locations, histories, myths. but one hell of a movie nonetheless and one the genres most transcendent finales. "humans can't fight ghosts."
Review by Joe ★★★★★

It's probably a good five minutes before we see any human beings in A Touch of Zen - before that it's the title sequence, then some close-ups of insects in spider's webs, and various shots of water, trees, light, nature at rest. It's like a soft prayer before the story begins, and it's your first clue that this is no typical kung-fu action movie, containing almost none of the genre's usual concessions to audience attention spans. Even when the action does start up, it's pretty removed from the expected Shaw Bros. athleticism, instead punctuated by long stretches of patient waiting in between the jump-cut-aided fight choreography, just outside physical reality as we (think we) know it.
Review by comrade_yui ★★★★★ 5

for my 2,500th film entry i wanted to go with something big and important, and finally getting around to watching this masterwork definitely fit the bill.
the main thing about this that was notable for me is how, after king hu had so thoroughly explored the evocations of physical movement & spatial dynamics within bright and incredibly stark locations of come drink with me and dragon inn, this film almost entirely takes place within a realm of misty & diffuse shadows, it's a gothic wuxia so infused with an internal mystery and magickal attitude, especially in regards to the spiritual themes and presentation of the story & main character as a vengeful ghost haunting the landscape, cloaking everything in mist and ambiguity.
the…
Review by Peter Labuza ★★★★ 2

Using what critical facilities I have when it comes to 1960s-70s Asian cinema (ie. fairly limited), what is striking to me in the work of King Hu is how pointedly different it is from an action choreographer like Lau Kar-Leung. Notably, Hu's action is at one more simple and more fantastic. The sequences here (which the first only happens after an hour of set up) are built on notably longer takes (meaning at least a 4-5 ASL during action), often shot from a distance, and most notably are built around pausing. The too oft-repeated "kung fu like ballet" doesn't seem as appropriate here - the action is built around one or two careful blows followed by long pauses where the…
Review by Justin Peterson ★★★½ 8

Criterion Collection Spine #825
(Foreign language film)
(The Average Joe’s Movie Club Cast Episode 14)
A majestic slow burn of Chinese cinema, that packs a punch when it comes to its high flying martial arts action, sword duels, and eastern spirituality.
"I've been a student of military strategy since I was a child ... If they can be lured here ... I can find a way to crush them!
I was excited to check out Director King Hu's A Touch of Zen, after I had heard it was an inspiration for Ang Lee's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. But before it gets to its excellent action set pieces, there was a whole lot story that was a little hard to follow,…
Review by Edgar Cochran ★★★★★ 3

Matthew Ekstrom's #1 Film Selection for Edgar
Impossible to fight against its power... Impossible to be overwhelmed by its technical brilliance...
I cannot fight against it!
Screened at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, and winning a Technical Grand Prize, King Hu's massively influential, multifaceted work of art Xia nü became the first Mandarin language film ever to win a major western film festival award.
Still, the size and scope of the film overshadow this fact, almost transforming it into a futile piece of trivia.
With a massive array of both philosophical and technical offerings, the massively underappreciated Taiwanese treasure has the most unusual capacity to transform itself into something else with each episodic advancement it makes through time:
1) It…
Review by laird ★★★★★ 4

I spent well over a decade avoiding watching this because a) it only existed on low quality grey market DVDs b) its reputation and runtime were intimidating and c) I assumed it would be more of an arthouse vegetable than a populist wuxia. Finally saw it today theatrically on a restoration DCP, and I'm happy to report that I was (once again) very wrong. It's more Leone than Ozu (though, now that I think about it Leone meets Ozu might be an apt, if not too reductive, descriptor for director King Hu). The setup involving a local no-dad-having loser getting mixed up with some mysterious characters that forever change his destiny is pretty much catnip to me (see also Star…

Recent reviews

Review by Jostein Ask ★★★★

Transcendence, dichotomies, Zen Buddhism, feminism, conservative female roles, and a ghost story...if you only watch one wuxia in your life...this is the one !
#510
Review by Jonah Lilienthal ★★★

I wish I liked A Touch of Zen more than I did, but I spent 150 minutes of its runtime wishing I was watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon instead. Every spatially incoherent action scene and limp character interaction sapped a little bit more of my energy as each minute of the gargantuan runtime trudged along, rendering me completely numb by the two hour and thirty minute mark. But then something spectacular happens, Abbot Hui-yuan takes control of the film. Finally someone with a captivating screen presence and whose nonchalantly exceptional martial arts skill actually communicates character dynamics during fight scenes. Suddenly the staging of the action becomes much better, and the gorgeous scenery (that has been the film’s most redeeming quality to this point) is allowed to shine even brighter. This unexpected uptick in quality to something truly gorgeous and captivating doesn’t erase the slog that precedes it, but it at least makes it more palatable in retrospect.
Review by Finn K ★★★★★ 1

i love old cinemascope stuff where the lens isn't that good, so whenever the camera moves along the horizontal axis everything gets bendy. the scene where he just laughs at all his wonderful ghost traps is still pretty much the best scene in anything
Review by Premiumblurays ★★★½

I have always stayed clear of wuxia movies made in the 60s and 70s as I had assumed that on viewing today, they would appear dated and the over use of trampoline would bore me.......What I didn't realise is that this particular famous and alleged masterpiece would be so damn beautiful to look at and have such great characters and story. I found the trampoline fight scenes balletic, acrobatic and breathtaking and the sideways glances and darting eyes of the heroes of the film, charming rather than silly. I also thought the lead actress was very engaging and her hair flicks during fight sequences were just supercool.
The colour palette in this flick was gorgeous and the use of light…
Review by segasaturn ★★½

Maybe the wuxia genre is just not for me. I feel like the plot did not demand the 3 hour runtime of this film. I have seen plenty of epic period films like Dances with Wolves and Once upon a time in America and enjoyed them, but I can not say the same for A Touch of Zen.
I watched the Criterion Collection release and I thought it had some issues. Debris on the camera lens as well as a wide angle takes me out of the movie at times.
Review by AnPeng ★★★★½

What a fucking experience. This transcends the conventional martial-arts movie into something truly enteral, and by the end of it, it almost feels as if you’ve met the Buddha himself. Many movies can easily be labeled as “epic”, but this one embodies it through and through. Every aspect of this comes together to form an absolutely stunning whole, and this is easily my contender for the greatest martial-arts movie of all time.
To put it simply, any movie with ass-kicking monks in it is automatically great in my book.
Review by comrade_yui ★★★★★ 5

for my 2,500th film entry i wanted to go with something big and important, and finally getting around to watching this masterwork definitely fit the bill.
the main thing about this that was notable for me is how, after king hu had so thoroughly explored the evocations of physical movement & spatial dynamics within bright and incredibly stark locations of come drink with me and dragon inn, this film almost entirely takes place within a realm of misty & diffuse shadows, it's a gothic wuxia so infused with an internal mystery and magickal attitude, especially in regards to the spiritual themes and presentation of the story & main character as a vengeful ghost haunting the landscape, cloaking everything in mist and ambiguity.
the…
Review by Evan Popplestone ★★★★½

Clocking in at around 3 hours, King Hu's classic Taiwanese wuxia has an unusually long runtime by the genre's usual standards. However, the length is justified by the film's approach to storytelling. The first half concentrates on building character and mood. Most of the second half focuses on the battles and completion of the characters' respective arcs. However, the final stretch (as the title hints at) takes on a trippy, spiritual dimension that feels more akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The fight sequences are constructed with a floaty grace and elegance that heavily inspired Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. There's also more of an emphasis on strategy and subterfuge here than usual, particularly during a section revolving around a battle in a purportedly haunted fort.
Aside from the somewhat underlit nighttime sections, A Touch of Zen is a superbly-crafted swordplay fantasy, well deserving of its reputation.
Review by doolydooly ★★★★

good but a bit long
Review by Chris ★★★

Its very possible I have far too much cum on the brain to enjoy this movie
Review by Ver Joseff ★★★★★

Quite an influential and groundbreaking wuxia film. I can see where Chinese martial arts directors like Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee and even Tarantino got their influences from.
Review by freewillsmith ★★★★

Proper Nutrition, 2021 • 26/92
I don’t think this movie’s runtime is justified and that's a shame. Otherwise, A Touch of Zen would be a masterpiece. Is it self-indulgent to a degree? That could explain the bloated runtime. But I guess you could also make a case that the Zen Buddhism of it all warrants the film’s length...but would a Zen Buddhist really be this excessive? Is this some sort of paradox?
I get that A LOT happens. Definitely more than I was expecting. And it’s actually really awesome, so...is it a pacing thing? The cinematography is beautiful and there are some truly breathtaking shots in this film. The sword fights are fantastic—King Hu was Beijing-born and he chose to…