Barnes & Noble

This 1991 film brought attention to director Zhang Yimou, one of China's most gifted filmmakers. Within his native context, Yimou is viewed as a subversive as well as a courageous filmmaker: His films, often set in his country's feudal past, explore the theme that old attitudes don't always die with the systems that fostered them. Raise the Red Lantern, set in northern China in the 1920s, is among the landmarks in a body of work that is as richly visual as it is thematically complex. The story finds teenager Songlian (Gong Li) marrying 50-something Chen (Ma Jingwu), a rich and ruthless man who already has three wives. Each night, Chen's servants place a red lantern in front of the door of the wife on whom the master has decided to bestow his sexual attentions, and inevitably the newest spouse finds herself pitted against the older ones. This struggle among the wives for power, or at least the semblance of it, allows Zhang a framework on which to hang various disturbing links between past and present. Gong Li, who has been linked to the director in much the same way that Marlene Dietrich was linked to Josef von Sternberg, delivers an exquisite performance that one critic called "unnerving in its emotional nakedness." She provides the film's emotional core and makes it an unforgettable viewing experience. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

The phenomenal success and international acclaim of Raise the Red Lantern, cemented Zhang Yimou's status as a leading figure in world cinema and reaffirmed the vibrancy of Chinese cinema. Though the film was the topic of great political controversy in China upon its release, it received armfuls of awards from Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom and a nomination for an Academy Award.

This sumptuously photographed drama, set in Northern China in the 1920s and based on the novel Wives and Concubines by Su Tong, stars Gong Li as Songlian, the fourth wife of an elderly landlord. Songlian is a college student who has been married off by her stepmother, so it is with tremendous frustration that this woman, who had hopes of using her education to broaden her horizons, now finds herself reduced to a small enclosure at the beck and call of her husband. Despite being given a maid (Kong Lin) and luxurious surroundings, she feels trapped inside the cheerless walls. Upon her arrival, Songlian realizes that she must keep one step ahead of her rivals, the three other wives. She also learns of her husband's tradition of lighting a lantern outside of the house of the wife with whom he intends to spend the night. During the first night together with her husband, she finds he is called away to tend to his spoiled third wife (He Caifei). Songlian then becomes acquainted with his other wives -- his first wife (Jin Shuyuan), an elderly woman who ignores Songlian; the third wife, an ex-opera singer; and the second wife (Cao Cuifeng), who offers Songlian friendship and helpful advice. But it turns out that the second wife's motives are not exactly innocent--she is conspiring with Songlian's maid to undermine both the third wife and Songlian. Raise the Red Lantern is a moving exploration of power in a suffocating world of ossified tradition and naked ambition-a masterpiece of 1990s world cinema. Paul Brenner

Product Details

• UPC: 027616082626
• Source: MGM (VIDEO & DVD)
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Editions: Subtitled
• Time: 2:05:00
• Sales Rank: 6,801

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