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Raise the Red Lantern (MGM World Films) Editorial Review:
Songlian, an educated nineteen-year-old girl, is forced to leave college to become the fourth wife of a powerful, feudal nobleman and becomes involved
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating insight into chinese culture
Also interesting to see the concubine system which still works today in our modern societies - men playing off women against each other and women competing for a man's attentions at all costs.
Passive aggressive, much?
Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou put out three of the best films of the past decade with his masterpieces Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Curse of the Golden Flower. These films (released over a mere four years) combine amazing performances and eye-melting visuals with intense emotions and thrilling action. It's only natural that I'd want more. After all, martial-arts isn't exactly the only thing Asian cinema has going for it and I was eager to see what else the master had for me. 1991's "Raise the Red Lantern" stars the luminescent and eternally beautiful Gong Li as an educated woman who resigns herself to marrying a wealthy man when her father's death leaves her family in dire financial straits. Now you're thinking "resigns to marrying a wealthy man? Isn't that most girls' dream?" Well this story takes place in 1920's China where wives of wealthy men were little more than concubines to be used and discarded more or less as the husband saw fit so for a young girl who has everything going for her to accept such a fate is essentially giving up on any hope of happiness or freedom. Raise the Red Lantern is a sad story and a powerful social commentary on the nature of the partriarchal order of things across the world.
Songlian arrives at her new home and is quickly informed of the family traditions. Each wife (she is the fourth) has their own abode decorated with numerous red lanterns. Depending on which wife is favored at the moment, their home interior and exterior is lit with these lanterns and the wife is lavished with privileges that are practically waved in the other wive's faces. In addition, each wife must honor daily rituals involving her "sisters" such as morning visits and group meals. The fact that each woman is put in direct competition with the other three brings out more than a little drama. Among the tenets of feminine Asian culture is a vicious-yet-restrained brand of passive aggression. Seldom is it put on display as it is in this film. With Asian culture being focused so intently on the facade of order, propriety, and politeness to openly vent anger is to lose face and demean yourself in the eyes of others. So what you get in a situation such as this is women in a psychological life-or-death struggle where a smiling face and pleasant tone masks the most virulent hate. Songlian is the youngest of the women and most independent and therefore the black sheep of the group. Even her servant is instantly and outwardly disgusted by her. Songlian is often outwardly antagonistic and temperamental, often choosing to be deliberately snarky and avoiding playing the games the other wives play. Naturally, this makes her our protagonist. But the truth is that each of these women is doing the best they can to simply deal with their lot in life, and their coldness and viciousness is only a function of their master's insistence on honoring the cruel traditions that put them at each others' throats.
Along with Songlian, we are quickly introduced to the First Mistress, Yuru, who is old and out of the race to become the favored wife. However, being the original wife she is afforded an amount of authority, but tends to choose to stay out of the affairs of the younger girls and their petty conflicts. Zhuoyun is the middle-aged Second Mistress, described as having the face of a Bhudda and the heart of a scorpion. Always smiling and pleasant, but often scheming in the most evil and selfish ways imaginable. Songlian's primary rival for the master's attentions is the Third Mistress, Meishan. As beautiful as Songlian and with exceptional talents as a songstress, Meishan is the spoiled brat of the bunch who regularly feigns sickness to get attention. As the Fourth Mistress and the newest wife, Songlian is expected to have the lanterns in her villa lit for a long time, but between her own bad attitude, Meishan's drama-queening, and Zhuoyun's schemes to give birth to a son by the master while the younger girls' antics turn the master (who seems to be getting a little action with a young servant on the side) away from them, everybody's got their hands full. What really made me love this film was not a young Gong Li (who would eventually become the most captivating actress in the world), and it's not the drama, and it's not even the indictment of this cruel and senseless male-first society. All that stuff was great, but as with many of Zhang Yimou's other works the visuals in this film are simply magnificent and outshine even the impressive performances. There's a reason the lanterns get top billing in this one. The way they are used to augment the already gorgeous sets is just amazing. The film is made up entirely of static shots that almost make one feel as if they are watching a play at times and this was done to preserve the perfect visual symmetry of these beautiful sets and the way that the color highlights them. There's only one word to describe the interior of Meishan's home: wow. The costumes are also fantastic to look at. In fact EVERYTHING in this movie is fantastic to look at.
As a metaphor for oppressive government or patriarchal society as a whole and as a low-budget visual powerhouse, Raise the Red Lanterns is a masterpiece. However, there were some story elements that felt underdeveloped and I was not really pleased with the ending. However, I would highly recommend this film to any and all fans of Asian cinema. It's doubtful you will be disappointed.
Excellent movie
A classic Chinese movie. A fine film. I saw it in the theatre years ago when it first appeared on screen. I had wanted to own a copy for years and finally found it. I am happy I did.
Nice to Find
was looking for this movie everywhere, found it here, great price, great item, fast and promp service and delivery. pleasure to do business with.
Excellent story of Chinese culture
Qi Gong and other cast members turn in excellent performances in this story about pre-revolutionary China in which one master shares four concubines. The title "Raise the Red Lantern" has nothing to do with a communist or propaganda theme. It was simply the method by which the master chose his concubine for the evening.
The intrigues between the four "wives" is interesting and well-portrayed. The master of the house was willing to put up with the petty one-up's man ship and arguing amongst his wives. One thing, however, that he would not tolerate was infidelity. This story details the decline of his youngest wife from the pretty and preferred status she enjoyed to madness when she learns the fate of #3 wife whose status she preempted when she joined the "family" and her diminished status when she was no longer the "favorite" and was also supplanted by a new wife.
In Chinese with English sub-titles. The dialog is simple and easily understood by a student of Chinese language, but the subtitles help particularly during run-on conversations and softly spoken dialog.
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