Alright, I know that the Chamberlain had himself spayed, so then why did he agree to have sex w/ the empress? He knew that he couldn't get her pregnant & she would have found out eventually, even if it was dark, that he couldn't give her what she wanted.
Was that scene only conveying the sexual tension between the two characters?
What makes you think he agreed to have sex with her?
share****SPOILERS*****
I am not sure about this scene either?! I have to admit that when I first read your post I was shocked! I hadn't come to that conclusion (that the Chamberlain slept with the Empress) at all! However, after watching the film a second time, I have to agree with you. The Chamberlain asks her if she would mind if he turned off the lights, at which point he walks off camera and we see the lights go off and hear the door close. I had originally thought that the sound of the door closing was him leaving the room, but seeing the lights go off leads me to believe that he turned off the lights and closed the door to give them privacy.
But why would he do this? He is now a eunuch and he cannot provide the Empress with the heir that she is begging him for. Perhaps he is seeking revenge against the Empress and the Emperor? Imagine, the Chamberlain has committed his life to the Imperial lineage and has striven always to uphold and protect the sacred laws from abuse. And yet the Empress, the very figurehead of the Empire to which he has always been devoted, is flouting everything he has worked so hard to preserve (including the Imperial marriage bed) - all to satisfy some asinine law. This is the Empire he has spent his life maintaining the grace and dignity of? These are the kinds of people he has spent his life serving? They throw away everything that he has built his life around to satisfy their petty whims and selfish desires; not to mention the complete disregard of human life by the Imperial couple (something which has only JUST come to the attention of the Chamberlain as the movie begins to unfold. He begins to realize the human toll in the form of his own mistreatment at the hands of the Emperor & Empress whom he's always faithfully served, as well as the precarious position Sabah has been put in at the whim of the Emperor, and the Doctors execution for giving a diagnosis which the Empress did not want to hear. . etc.) The Chamberlain must be sickened by the hypocrisy of it all. By sleeping with the Empress, he makes a begger of the Empress and he cuckholds the Emperor. He exposes the Royalty for what they really are; pathetic and decrepit; the crumbling remains of a once beautiful Empire. The rebellion is the outward sign of the inward turmoil of the main characters. It's a dying, corrupt empire and it cannot be salvaged outwardly because the inside is rotten to the core.
However, I do not believe that the Chamberlain's actions are deliberately cruel or vindictive. I think he pities the Empress, as is shown by his gentle and affectionate gestures towards her as she is on her knees begging for his help. I think his world has been ripped apart and he is unsure how to proceed because those he has always placed his faith in have proven false gods (the laws and the Imperial couple). In one conversation between Sabeh and the Chamberlain, he tells her that prayer is what "keeps you from going mad", to which Sabeh replies, "And when did you stop praying?" The Chamberlain's prayer WAS the upholding of the sacred laws and rituals! They were his religion! Sabeh's simple observation was probably the first time the Chamberlain was slapped in the face with his own doubts (until now he had kept them well hidden, perhaps even from himself) and he had to confront the fact that he had lost his faith.
wow that was really deep...makes me want to see the movie again!
but, while that analysis was impressive, i'd like to get back to topic. he didn't have sex with her i dun think, becuase after the door slammed the Empress looked sad and dejected, like even her last hope had vanished. He wouldn't be that stupid as to sleep with the Empress when he couldnt' give her what she wanted anyway. He wants to stay away from her.
he didnt sleep with her..pay closer attention to it..im sure he didnt..he wasnt able to..though i dont think she figured out he was a unick at the time she asked him to sleep with her..
shareI also think that they did sleep together, but there's another thing I don't understand..... Why is the child the emperor adopted a blond? That fact kind of made me think that maybe it is Chamberlain's child..... but that's impossible...it should be Sabah's and her fiance's kid...
Anyways, maybe that's completely unimportant, but it did get me confused.... :)
I've just watched the movie and I think they did have sex together. Why he did it, despite being an eunnuch I don't knwo for sure, although I woudl say that he did it as a service to her, sicne he probably felt that she was desperate and it was his duty to do what she was asking from him.
In any case, I think he switches off the lights so she doesn't notice that he's an eunnuch and then goes back to her and has sex with her. There is another moment just after Sabah tells him that she's pregnant when he says: That would breaking the long and I have already done it once" (or something similar, and I think he means that moment with the Emperess).