Raise the Red Lantern (1991) [Film Review]

Raise the Red Lantern; or, Desperate Housewives

     “If I’m able”… You just wait and see what I can do!

Raise the Red Lantern is a 1991 drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and based on a novel "Wives and Concubines" by Su Tong. It is frequently cited as one of the best Chinese movies of all time. It even received the Academy Awards’ nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1992. Being a sceptic at first, the movie struck me with its gripping storyline, wonderful art design, and breathtaking cinematography.

Release Info

Directed by: Zhang Yimou Starring: Gong Li, He Saifei, Cao Cuifen

Language: Mandarin Original Title: 大紅燈籠高高掛 Runtime: 125 min

 

Synopsis

China, the 1920s. Songlian (Gong Li) is a university student who mourns the death of her father. After nagging from her step-mother, and in view of dire financial situation, she drops studying and decides to become a wife of a wealthy businessman. She marries into the Chen family, acquiring the status of the Fourth Mistress. Songlian familiarises herself with all the peculiar customs at the house, many of which involve the usage of lanterns. Little does she know that there is a strong competition among the Mistresses for the favours of Master Chen (Ma Jingwu). Songlian has to find her way through the maze of conspiracies and compete with Yuru (Jin Shuyuan), Zhuoyun (Cao Cuifen), Meishan (He Saifei), and her servant Yan’er (Kong Lin).

 

The House of Intrigues

Even though I have not read Su Tong’s novel, the style of Raise the Red Lantern reminded me greatly about the works of Anchee Min, and Lisa See. Probably because the two authors also explore the relations between women in their novels. Similarly, Raise the Red Lantern predominantly focuses on women rather than men. We never see the close up of Master Chen, loyal servants are always in the background, whereas Chen’s eldest son, Feipu (Xiao Chu), has only two brief exchanges with Songlian which do not go particularly well. Men are only the burden in this story, tricking women into obedience and submission.

 

In the case of women, on the other hand, the situation is a bit different. When someone is outwardly arrogant, you would think that this person is the baddie; but in fact, the worst kind of a villain is the one with the warmest smile. Women compete between each other ruthlessly in order to acquire higher status, which is a part of Sailong’s tragedy because she does not know how to stay afloat in this dying ground filled with customs and colours. Speaking of which, red colour plays the pivotal role in the film. You can see the whole courtyard and rooms being lit with red, or even characters dressed up in red. In my opinion, red lanterns stand for the tragic fate of Chinese women.

 

From the technical side, the aforementioned cinematography elevates the viewing experience. The movie was shot on location in old Qiao’s Family Courtyard, a lavish, extremely symmetrical residential compound built in the 18th century. Every shot of that compound can be framed and hanged on a wall. It’s that beautiful. In addition, the haunting music score by Zhao Jiping cannot go unnoticed. In many scenes, the music transpires naturally from the film (for instance, playing vinyl records or Meishan's (the Third Mistress) wonderful courtyard singing sequence); however, the music can also be heard in the background of the key scenes.

 

With regard to performances, Gong Li is absolutely amazing in the leading role. However, Cao Cuifen and He Saifei are also brilliant as the competing Mistresses. Relatively young Kong Lin has a very good role as Songlian’s servant.

 

Recommendations

If you have not yet seen Raise the Red Lantern, then please watch it. The film is a wonderful story that will certainly leave you thinking about many social issues. Be careful to grab a decent DVD edition of the film because many releases had quite bad picture quality. All in all, Raise the Red Lantern is Zhang Yimou’s best of the best.

Overall score 8/10