Taiwanese director Hsiao-Hsien Hou brings medieval China to the screen in his elegant and exotic “The Assassin.” The film opens this weekend at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center.

Mr. Hsiao-Hsien won the 2015 Best Director award at Cannes, and it is easy to understand why. He immerses the viewer in a world unlike any in modern life. Like Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), “The Assassin” belongs to the Wuxia genre of martial arts films. It is set in the medieval world of the 8th century Tang Dynasty, beset by tensions between its provinces and the imperial court. During a nearly 10-minute, black-and-white prologue, Mr. Hsiao-Hsien sets up the complicated narrative about Nie Yinniang (Qi Shu), a young woman who has been trained as a warrior after being exiled from Weibo province.

Her mentor, the princess/nun Jiaxin (Fang-Yi Sheu), commands her to return to Weibo and to commit three assassinations. The first killing goes as swiftly as a dance move, but the next one finds Yinniang reluctant, because she finds her target playing with his son. Jiaxin chastises her, saying, “Your heart lacks resolve,” then gives her an even more challenging mission. She must kill Governor Tian (Chang Chen of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”); he is her cousin and the man to whom she was once betrothed.

The cast of characters in “The Assassin” is not easy to keep straight, but the viewer can always follow Yinniang because she is dressed in black. She slips through copses of trees, lurks as a shadowy figure obscured by billowing curtains, or perches in the rafters above courtiers in conversation. The action moves slowly, with characters often posed rigidly like statues, almost trapped in their elegant period costumes. There is usually movement in the settings or the camerawork. Gauzy curtains blow gently, sometimes obscuring the foreground; the glow of candles may dominate, and the camera often pans slowly across panoramas as exquisitely arranged as paintings. At times, an interior scene will be out of focus. When the action moves outdoors, Hsiao-Hsien usually relies on long shots, where characters seem almost swallowed up by the larger natural world. The outdoor scenes were filmed in Inner Mongolia and Hubei Province.

The film’s occasional fight scenes explode into the narrative, but they are usually set in the background rather than taking over as they would in modern martial arts films. Music director Giong Lim won the Cannes soundtrack award for his muted counterpoints to action and dialogue. Music only occasionally plays, characters often remain silent for extended stretches, and the natural world emerges quietly in birdsong and other elements. The director balances the arresting components of this ancient world with more commonplace elements. Yinniang takes a bath, children watch an insect fly or play with a ball; there is an acupuncture scene, and characters are often shown eating.

In terms of conventional narrative patterns, camerawork, and character development, “The Assassin” is not an easy film to absorb. Instead, it exists in its own exquisitely beautiful world, and it should be appreciated as such.

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