这是90年代日本投资最高、场面最大的经典时代剧之一，由老牌导演隆旗康男(《铁道员》《车站》)执导，绪形拳、千叶真一、松方弘树、长门裕之、丹波哲郎主演。尽管影片属于时代剧类型，但是和传统的时代剧不太一样。影片的情节更加紧凑了，连场的血腥杀戮和追杀打斗叫人紧张的喘不过气来，影片没有丝毫冷场的地方。影片讲述了德川幕府时期，将军家光认为自己的长子竹千代与自己长的不像，便起了废长立幼的念头，并派高手伊庭庄左卫门去北部东照宫藩刺杀竹千代。藩主崛田手下的侍卫石河刑部率领一众高手一路保护竹千代前往江户，与家光对决……

老庄园主去世后，可怜的母女四人被长子逐出了庄园。靠着亲戚的帮助，她们在一处小小的农舍安顿下来。势力眼的长嫂未曾想到的是，她的弟弟爱德华（休·格兰特 饰）爱上了三姐妹中的大姐埃莉诺（艾玛·汤普森 饰）。理智的埃莉诺尽管也倾心于爱德华，却顾及两人地位的悬殊而努力克制着自己的感情。与此同时，妹妹玛丽安娜（凯特·温丝莱特 饰）和英俊的军官威罗比（格雷·怀斯 饰）陷入热恋。情感外露的玛丽安娜热情奔放的释放着自己对威罗比的爱慕，甚至不顾及伤害追求者布兰登（艾伦·瑞克曼 饰）上校的感情。未曾想，威罗比为人不正，根本没有把玛丽安娜的感情真正放在心上。两个姐妹的感情相继陷入了危机。性格迥异的两姐妹谁能得到真正的爱情，如愿以偿呢？母女四人又该如何走出生活的困境呢？

In his bold, poetic approach, Clu Gulager manages to pack a decade's worth of experimentation into a fast, economical 20 minutes. Images dissolve and bleed into one another, freeze-frame and turn into paintings. Gulager also utilizes different camera speeds and even (and this is something I haven't seen before) the grain of the film to achieve his effects. Laszlo Kovacs' sun bleached photography helps immeasurably in streamlining such techniques into a powerfully eccentric, disturbingly compelling narrative. Far from pretentious (the word I'd use to describe most "experimental" films from the late sixties), this film comes off both as a celebration of childhood innocence and an uncompromising examination of its darkest extremes. And furthermore, Gulager and Kovacs achieve what may be the most unsettling final freeze frame ever.

叙述朱总管和方菲丽与谢律师三人勾结物色女子张美红充冒富翁徐惠堂之女徐琪设计谋财的经过情形。