I saw this movie when I was young, sometime around 2002 I assume, and combined what I remembered of it with my memories of the movie Hero. I didn’t see Memoirs of a Geisha at that time, so I’m sure it wasn’t that one, even though it has that rich red color scheme.

I think it was subtitled, and probably in Chinese. I’ve conflated the two movies pretty successfully so it’s hard to be sure (I was about 5 at the time). I believe there is a scene in which a woman braids or fixes a man’s hair before they engaging in wrestling foreplay. I believe the man pins her or slams her to the ground. I distinctly recall her tipping her head back and laughing while the man is somewhat rough. Her laugh is by far the most vivid memory I have of it because it startled me at the time.

I thought that the story ends in them killing one another, but maybe not. I also thought that they were having some kind of forbidden affair, but I’m not sure. I can recall a few other bits and pieces but it’s pretty muddled.

This has bothered me for nearly two decades because I can’t remember what it’s from!!