The Great Magician (2011) on Netflix

Plot summary

After the Qing dynasty falls, China breaks apart among rival warlords. In 1920s Beijing, Lei Bully's butler Liu Kunshan performs conjuring tricks that frighten convicts into the warlord's ranks. Lei already keeps six wives, and he has seized Liu Yin, hoping she will agree to be the seventh. Into the city comes Chang Hsien, a magician whose illusions astonish the locals. He is quietly working with Republican spies who intend to draw Lei to a performance and take him hostage. Chang joined them for Liu Yin, the fiancée he left behind when he went overseas, and he is also the apprentice of her father, Liu Wanyao, whom Liu Kunshan holds prisoner to force out a secret trick.