Raise the Red Lantern
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Raise the Red Lantern (Simplified Chinese: 大红灯笼高高挂; Traditional Chinese: 大紅燈籠高高掛; pinyin: Dà Hóng Dēnglóng Gāogāo Guà; literally "Hang High the Big Red Lantern") is a 1991 Chinese film, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. It was adapted by Ni Zhen from the 1990 novel Wives and Concubines by Su Tong. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992, the film is noted for its opulent visuals and sumptuous use of colors. The film was shot in [Qiao's Compound] in the ancient city of Pingyao, in Shanxi Province of China. Although the screenplay was approved by Chinese censors, the final version of the film was originally banned in theatres (since then it has been featured on commercial TV in China). Some film critics interprets the film as a veiled allegory against Chinese communist authoritarianism.
The film was later adapted into an acclaimed ballet of the same title by the National Ballet of China, and directed by Zhang Yimou himself.
Plot
The film is set in 1920s China, decades before the Chinese Civil War. Nineteen-year-old 頌蓮 Songlian (Gong Li), whose father has recently died and left the family bankrupt, marries into the wealthy Chen family, becoming the fourth wife — or, as she is referred to, the Fourth Mistress — of the household. Arriving at the palatial abode, she is at first treated like royalty, receiving sensuous foot massages, brightly-lit red lanterns, as well as nightly visits from her husband (Jingwu Ma), the master of the house. Songlian soons discovers, however, that not all the wives in the household receive the same luxurious treatment. In fact, the master decides on a daily basis which wife he will spend the night with; whomever he chooses gets her lanterns lit, receives the foot massage, gets her choice of menu items at mealtime, and gets the most attention and respect from the servants. Pitted in constant competition against each other, the four wives are continually vying for their husband's attention and affections, though the eldest one not so much.
The eldest wife of the household, Yuru (Jin Shuyuan), appears to be nearly as old as the master himself. Having born a son decades earlier, she seems resigned to live out her life as a forgotten concubine, always passed over in favor of the younger wives. The second wife, Zhuoyun (Cuifen Cao), befriends Songlian, complimenting her youth and beauty, and giving her expensive silk as a gift; she also warns her about the third wife, Meishan (Caifei He), a former opera singer who is spoiled, unable to cope with no longer being the youngest of the master's playthings. As time passes, though, Songlian learns that it is really Zhuoyun, the second wife, who is not to be trusted; she is subsequently described (quite accurately) as having the face of the Buddha, yet possessing the heart of a scorpion.
Songlian feigns pregnancy, attempting to garner the majority of the master's time (and, at the same time, attempting to become actually pregnant — like a self-fulfilling prophecy). Zhuoyun, however, is in league with Songlian's personal maid, 雁兒 Yang'er (Lin Kong) who finds and reveals a pair of bloodied undergarments, suggesting that Songlian had recently had her period, and discovers the pregnancy is a fraud, so she summons the family physician. Doctor Gao (Zhihgang Cui), who is secretly having an illicit affair with third wife Meishan, examines Songlian and determines the pregnancy to be a sham. Infuriated, the master orders Songlian's lanterns covered with thick black canvas bags indefinitely. Blaming the sequence of events on Yang for her betrayal she reveals to the house that Yang's room is filled with lit red lanterns, showing that Yang dreams of becoming a Mistress instead of a lowly servant; it is suggested earlier that Yang is in love with the Master and has even slept with him in the Fourth Mistress' bed. Yang is punished by having the lanterns burned while she sits in the snow as they smolder. As an act of defiance Yang remains in the snow even after she is allowed to come in, but ultimately falls sick and dies after being taken to hospital. Songlian, who had briefly attended university before the passing of her father and being forced into marriage, comes to the conclusion that she is happier alone in solitude; she eventually sees the competition between the wives as a useless endeavor, as each wife is merely one of four "robes" that the master may wear and discard at his discretion.
As Songlian retreats further into her solitude, she begins speaking of suicide; she reasons that dying is a better fate than being a concubine in the Chen household. The opulent estate, while initially seeming lavish and posh, gradually morphs into a metaphorical prison compound in young Songlian's eyes. On her twentieth birthday, severely intoxicated and despondent over her bitter fate, she inadvertently blurts out the details of the love affair between Meishan and Doctor Gao. Zhuoyun overhears the information and catches the adulterous couple together. Following the old customs and traditions, Meishan is dragged to a lone room on the roof of the estate and hanged to death by the master's servants. Songlian, already in agony due to the fruitlessness of her life, witnesses the entire episode and is emotionally traumatized.
The following summer, after the master's marriage to a fifth wife, Songlian is shown wandering the compound aimlessly, having gone completely insane.
Cast
- Li Gong — Songlian
- Caifei He — Meishan (third wife)
- Cuifen Cao — Zhuoyun (second wife)
- Qi Zhao — Housekeeper
- Lin Kong — Yang'er (Songlian's young servant)
- Jin Shuyuan — Yuru (first wife)
- Jingwu Ma — Master Chen
- Zhihgang Cui — Doctor Gao
- Chu Xiao — Feipu (the master's eldest son)
- Cao Zhengyin — (Songlian's old servant)
- Ding Weimin — Songlian's mother
Awards
- Best Foreign-Language Film (Won) - 1992 British Academy Awards
- Best Foreign-Language Film (Won) - Zhang Yimou - 1991 New York Film Critics Circle
- Best Cinematography (Won) - Zhao Fei - 1991 L.A. Film Critics Association
- Best Foreign Language Film (Nominated) - 1992 Academy Awards
- Best Foreign Film (Nomination) - 1992 National Board of Review
- Silver Lion (Award) - Zhang Yimou - 1991 Venice International Film Festival
- Best Foreign Film (Nomination) - Zhang Yimou - 1992 Independent Spirit Award
- Best Cinematography (Award) - Zhao Fei - 1992 National Society of Film Critics
- Best Foreign Film (Award) - 1992 National Society of Film Critics
See also
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