According to a Chinese newspaper, Zhang Ziyi's only two action scenes may be included in the the international print, but many not show up in the domestic Chinese print.

The first scene is the Empress (Zhang Ziyi) and the Crown Prince (Daniel Wu) practicing swords with movements they learnt from the previous emperor. I suspect a few second of the scene is included in the latest teaser trailer. The second scenes is the Empress playing polo with the current Emperor (Ge You). Ge You suggested to limit the weight of Zhang Ziyi's action in the film because she had already done that so many times and director Feng Xiaogang agreed. He said Zhang Ziyi's performance was so good that no action was needed to strengthen her role. Feng would cut these scenes because he believes they were not closely related to the main storyline. Feng said he would avoid showing lavish fight scenes with a weak story.

Loosely Inspired by William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Zhang Ziyi plays a young Empress, who was forced to marry the current Emperor, played by Ge You, who took the throne after murdered the previous Emperor, his own brother. Daniel Wu plays the exiled Crown Prince, son of the previous Emperor and was once in love with the Empress. He returned to the imperial palace after survived an assassination attempt ordered by his uncle.

The Banquet will be released in China this September, by which it will be qualified for the Best Foreign Language Film Award of next year's Oscar. Reportedly, this film has been selling very well internationally. Media Asia, co-producer of the film, will release it in Hong Kong. Gaga Communications Inc. acquired the Japanese rights with US$ 5 million. The unidentified Korean distributor is now pushing for a simultaneous in the country. Release in Southeast Asia is also being secured. Rights in seven European countries have already been sold and a deal for UK release will be signed soon. Distribution in France and Germany are currently in negotiation. Several US distributors, including Paramount, WB and Miramax, have shown their interests on the film, after a 15 minute featurette was shown at American Film Market last november.

By: asianfanatics.net

YES I hope this movie it been released in France!!!!!!!!