Raise the Red Lantern [Da hong deng long gao gao gua] ***** (1991, Gong Li, Ma Jingwu, He Caifei) – Classic Movie Review 7879

Director Zhang Yimou’s 1991 Raise the Red Lantern [Da hong deng long gao gao gua] is a visually beautiful, exquisitely acted film set in Twenties China among the concubines of a rich clan leader, Chen Zuoqian, who has just taken his fourth wife, the educated 19-year-old Songlian (Gong Li), forced into the marriage after her father’s death. The red lanterns hang outside the rooms of the wife currently in favour, and Songlian pretends to be pregnant to control the household.

Director Zimou exposes the cruelty of customs in Twenties China and the dilemmas facing a young woman in a man’s world. This much acclaimed picture is raised high by the luminous Gong Li’s remarkable turn as the canny concubine.

The screenplay by Ni Zhen is based on the original novel Wives and Concubines by Su Tong.

Also in the cast are Ma Jingwu, He Caifei, Cao Cuifeng, Jin Shuyuan, Kong Lin, Ding Weimin and Cui Zhihgang.

The director and star also collaborated on Red Sorghum (1988) and Ju Dou [Judou] (1990).

Showing in a subtitled version.

Zhang Yimou won the best director award at Venice in 1991, where the film was awarded the Silver Lion (tied with The Fisher King (1991) and J’entends plus la guitare (1991)).It was Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992. It won the 1993 BAFTA Film Award for Best Film not in the English Language and the London Critics Circle Film Award for Foreign Language Film of the Year.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7879

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