Title

The title "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a literal translation of the Chinese idiom "臥虎藏龍" which describes a place or situation that is full of unnoticed masters. It is from a poem of the ancient Chinese poet Yu Xin (513–581) that reads "暗石疑藏虎，盤根似臥龍", which means "behind the rock in the dark probably hides a tiger, and the coiling giant root resembles a crouching dragon".^[16] The title also has several other layers of meaning. On one level, the Chinese characters in the title connect to the narrative that the last character in Xiaohu and Jiaolong's names mean "tiger" and "dragon", respectively. On another level, the Chinese idiomatic phrase is an expression referring to the undercurrents of emotion, passion, and secret desire that lie beneath the surface of polite society and civil behavior,^[17] which alludes to the film's storyline.

Gender roles

The success of the Disney animated feature Mulan (1998) popularized the image of the Chinese woman warrior in the west.^[18] The storyline of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is mostly driven by the three female characters.^[19] In particular, Jen is driven by her desire to be free from the gender role imposed on her,^[20] while Shu Lien, herself oppressed by the gender role, tries to lead Jen back into the role deemed appropriate for her.^[19] Some prominent martial arts disciplines are traditionally held to have been originated by women, e.g., Wing Chun. The film's title refers to masters one does not notice, which necessarily includes mostly women, and therefore suggests the advantage of a female bodyguard.

Poison

Poison is also a significant theme in the film. The Chinese word "毒" (dú) means not only physical poison but also cruelty and sinfulness. In the world of martial arts, the use of poison is considered an act of one who is too cowardly and dishonorable to fight; and indeed, the only character who explicitly fits these characteristics is Jade Fox. The poison is a weapon of her bitterness^[21] and quest for vengeance: she poisons the master of Wudang, attempts to poison Jen, and succeeds in killing Mu Bai using a poisoned needle. In further play on this theme by the director, Jade Fox, as she dies, refers to the poison from a young child, "the deceit of an eight-year-old girl", referring to what she considers her own spiritual poisoning by her young apprentice Jen. Li Mu Bai himself warns that, without guidance, Jen could become a "poison dragon".

China of the imagination

The story is set during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), but it does not specify an exact time. Lee sought to present a "China of the imagination" rather than an accurate vision of Chinese history. At the same time, Lee also wanted to make a film that Western audiences would want to see.^[22] Thus, the film is shot for a balance between Eastern and Western aesthetics. There are some scenes showing uncommon artistry for the typical martial arts film such as an airborne battle among wispy bamboo plants.^[17]

Casting

Shu Qi was Ang Lee's first choice for the role of Jen, but she turned it down.^[24]

Filming

Mount Cangyan, including the bridge pictured above, was one of many filming locations.

Although its Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was presented to Taiwan, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was in fact an international co-production between companies in four regions: the Chinese company China Film Co-production Corporation, the American companies Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, Sony Pictures Classics, and Good Machine, the Hong Kong company Edko Films, and the Taiwanese Zoom Hunt Productions, as well as the unspecified United China Vision and Asia Union Film & Entertainment, created solely for this film.^[25][26]

The film was made in Beijing, with location shooting in Urumchi, Western Provinces, Taklamakan Plateau, Shanghai and Anji of China.^[27] The first phase of shooting was in the Gobi Desert where it consistently rained. Director Ang Lee noted, "I didn't take one break in eight months, not even for half a day. I was miserable—I just didn't have the extra energy to be happy. Near the end, I could hardly breathe. I thought I was about to have a stroke."^[28] The stunt work was mostly performed by the actors themselves and Ang Lee stated in an interview that computers were used "only to remove the safety wires that held the actors" aloft. "Most of the time you can see their faces," he added. "That's really them in the trees."^[29]

Another compounding issue was the difference between accents of the four lead actors: Chow Yun-fat is from Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese natively; Michelle Yeoh is from Malaysia and grew up speaking English and Malay,^[30] so she learned the Standard Chinese lines phonetically;^[30] Chang Chen is from Taiwan and he speaks Standard Chinese in a Taiwanese accent. Only Zhang Ziyi spoke with a native Mandarin accent that Ang Lee wanted.^[28] Chow Yun Fat said, on "the first day [of shooting], I had to do 28 takes just because of the language. That's never happened before in my life."^[28]

The film specifically targeted Western audiences rather than the domestic audiences who were already used to Wuxia films. As a result, high-quality English subtitles were needed. Ang Lee, who was educated in the West, personally edited the subtitles to ensure they were satisfactory for Western audiences.^[31]

Soundtrack

The score was composed by Dun TAN in 1999. It was played for the movie by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai National Orchestra and the Shanghai Percussion Ensemble. It features solo passages for cello played by Yo-Yo Ma. The "last track" ("A Love Before Time") features Coco Lee, who later sang it at the Academy Awards. The composer Chen Yuanlin also collaborated in the project. The music for the entire film was produced in two weeks.^[32] Tan the next year (2000) adapted his filmscore as a cello concerto called simply "Crouching Tiger."

Marketing

The film was adapted into a video game and a series of comics, and it led to the original novel being adapted into a 34-episode Taiwanese television series. The latter was released in 2004 as New Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for Northern American release.^[33]

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD on 5 June 2001 by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.^[34] It was also released on UMD on 26 June 2005. In the United Kingdom, it was watched by 3.5 million viewers on television in 2004, making it the year's most-watched foreign-language film on television.^[35]

Restoration

The film was re-released in a 4K restoration by Sony Pictures Classics in 2023.

Box office

The film premiered in cinemas on 8 December 2000, in limited release within the United States. During its opening weekend, the film opened in 15th place, grossing $663,205 in business, showing at 16 locations.^[3] On 12 January 2001, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon premiered in cinemas in wide release throughout the U.S., grossing $8,647,295 in business, ranking in sixth place. The film Save the Last Dance came in first place during that weekend, grossing $23,444,930.^[36] The film's revenue dropped by almost 30% in its second week of release, earning $6,080,357. For that particular weekend, the film fell to eighth place, screening in 837 theaters. Save the Last Dance remained unchanged in first place, grossing $15,366,047 in box-office revenue.^[3] During its final week in release, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon opened in a distant 50th place with $37,233 in revenue.^[37] The film went on to top out domestically at $128,078,872 in total ticket sales through a 31-week theatrical run. Internationally, the film took in an additional $85,446,864 in box-office business for a combined worldwide total of $213,525,736.^[3] For 2000 as a whole, the film cumulatively ranked at a worldwide box-office performance position of 19.^[38]

Critical response

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is based on an early 20th century novel by Wang Dulu, unfolds much like a comic book, with the characters and their circumstances being painted using wide brush strokes. Subtlety is not part of Lee's palette; he is going for something grand and melodramatic, and that's what he gets.

— James Berardinelli, ReelViews^[39]

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was widely acclaimed in the Western world, receiving numerous awards. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 168 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The site's critical consensus states: "The movie that catapulted Ang Lee into the ranks of upper echelon Hollywood filmmakers, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon features a deft mix of amazing martial arts battles, beautiful scenery, and tasteful drama."^[40] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 94 out of 100, based on 32 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[41]

Some Chinese-speaking viewers were bothered by the accents of the leading actors. Neither Chow (a native Cantonese speaker) nor Yeoh (who was born and raised in Malaysia) spoke Mandarin Chinese as a mother tongue. All four main actors spoke Standard Chinese with vastly different accents: Chow speaks with a Cantonese accent,^[42] Yeoh with a Malaysian accent, Chang Chen with a Taiwanese accent, and Zhang Ziyi with a Beijing accent. Yeoh responded to this complaint in a 28 December 2000, interview with Cinescape. She argued, "My character lived outside of Beijing, and so I didn't have to do the Beijing accent." When the interviewer, Craig Reid, remarked, "My mother-in-law has this strange Sichuan-Mandarin accent that's hard for me to understand," Yeoh responded: "Yes, provinces all have their very own strong accents. When we first started the movie, Cheng Pei Pei was going to have her accent, and Chang Zhen was going to have his accent, and this person would have that accent. And in the end nobody could understand what they were saying. Forget about us, even the crew from Beijing thought this was all weird."^[43]

The film led to a boost in popularity of Chinese wuxia films in the western world, where they were previously little known, and led to films such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers, both directed by Zhang Yimou, being marketed towards Western audiences. The film also provided the breakthrough role for Zhang Ziyi's career, who noted:

Because of movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and Memoirs of a Geisha, a lot of people in the United States have become interested not only in me but in Chinese and Asian actors in general. Because of these movies, maybe there will be more opportunities for Asian actors.

Film Journal noted that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon "pulled off the rare trifecta of critical acclaim, boffo box-office and gestalt shift", in reference to its ground-breaking success for a subtitled film in the American market.^[44]

Accolades

Gathering widespread critical acclaim at the Toronto and New York film festivals, the film also became a favorite when Academy Awards nominations were announced in 2001. The film was screened out of competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.^[45] The film received ten Academy Award nominations, which was the highest ever for a non-English language film, up until it was tied by Roma (2018).^[46]

The film is ranked at number 497 on Empire's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.^[47] and at number 66 in the magazine's 100 Best Films of World Cinema, published in 2010.^[48] In 2010, the Independent Film & Television Alliance selected the film as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years.^[49] In 2016, it was voted the 35th-best film of the 21st century as picked by 177 film critics from around the world in a poll conducted by BBC.^[11] The film was included in BBC's 2018 list of The 100 greatest foreign language films ranked by 209 critics from 43 countries around the world.^[12] In 2019, The Guardian ranked the film 51st in its 100 best films of the 21st century list.^[13]