As usual, it's down to me to express the dissonant view. I notice my opinion almost perfectly complements that of grimes.

The kindest description I can think of is "leisurely paced and varied". A harsher paraphrase would be slow and meandering.

This can be forgiven if the story were an involving romance (if this were the aim, it failed) or a sweeping story covering great historical changes by focussing in on a small group of people (at which it occasionally hits the mark)
or, most contentiously, if the actors deliver great performances. I'm not impressed with the acting here. Yes, Brigitte Lin is tackling serious drama, but it's far from the only time she's done so. Her frequent co-star and real-life great love Chin Han is pretty uninspiring. Even the great Maggie Cheung doesn't fare much better.

On the plus side, the music is excellent, especially the theme. This is one of the few Chinese films I've seen where they get close to exactly the right mix. About the only point of agreement is that the look of this film is wonderful.

I can recommend this film only for fans of Brigitte and Chin Han and, perhaps, desperate fans of Maggie. Otherwise, you'd have to be in the right mood - ready for a leisurely and rambling run.