It is a remake of director Wong Tin-lam's 1959 film Tragedy of the Emperor's Daughter, itself based on the Cantonese opera Di Nü Hua (The Flower Princess).

Just as Chow Shih Hsien has wooed Princess Chang Ping with his witty wordplay, the Manchu forces descend upon the palace.

Chow Shih Hsien, having been knocked unconscious, awakes believing his love to be dead but later discovers her at a monastery, and the two become targets of machinations by the remaining Ming elites.

Woo's camera moves fluidly, emphasizing the theatricality of the world and performances rather than reinforcing it to an alienating degree.

"[5] Jeremy Carr of Senses of Cinema called the film "a lavish, operatic melodrama that is certainly staid by comparison to his action films and is somewhat burdened by its histrionic effects, but evinces an impressive, mannered vision of war and romance; it is a tragic, emotionally potent, and decorative love story.