Love over Sex – The Unusual Sub-Text of a Hong Kong Porn Movie

Hong Kong – Widely touted as the world’s first 3D porn movie, 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy is an explicit and visually titillating production. But unusually for a porn film, it contains a deeper message: sex is not an essential ingredient in a relationship.

Due for release on big screens across Hong Kong on April 14, the soft-core movie is a remake of the 1991 Hong Kong cult sensation, Sex and Zen.

Its love-making scenes leave little to the imagination and have attracted the inevitable media headlines. But producer Stephen Shiu said that the movie’s real inspiration is a Chinese classic romantic novel The Carnal Prayer Mat.

“The soft core that I have made is at a standard where you can take away all the sex scenes and still have a great movie. If we don’t reach this level, then nothing distinguishes our movie from hard core porn,” Shiu said in a CNNGO interview.

The story starts with a innocent love scene as boy meets girl.

Wei Yangshang, a Ming Dynasty scholar, meets Tie Yuxiang, a beautiful and talented young lady. They fall in love at first sight, marry and quickly consummate their passion.

Wei believes that life is short, so he should enjoy his life with unbridled sexual pleasure as time allows. However, the well-bred Tie’s inhibitions leave Wei unsatisfied.

The story’s turning point begins when Wei follows a friend to the cunning Prince of Ning’s Pavilion of Ultimate Bliss, where men and women engage in wild orgies.

During his time in the sex cave, Wei experiences round-the-clock excitement, rape, and torture. His promiscuous sex life results in divorce from Tie. But the couple still love each other.

Another turning point occurs when the divorced couple end up in terrible circumstances in the cave.

Tied-up and experiencing genital torture, they confess their eternal love for each other.

The torture leaves them unable to have sex ever again. But Wei experiences an epiphany. He realises that making love isn’t all that important, and the couple go on to live happily together ever after.