Raise the Red Lantern (1991)

A young woman becomes the fourth wife of a wealthy lord, and must learn to live with the strict rules and tensions within the household.

Director:

Yimou Zhang

Writers:

Su Tong (original novel "Wives and Concubines" by), Ni Zhen (scriptwriter)

Stars:

Li Gong, Jingwu Ma, Saifei He

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 21 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Li Gong	...	Songlian
Saifei He	...	Meishan (Third Wife)
Jingwu Ma	...	The Master
Cuifen Cao	...	Zhuoyan (Second Wife)
Qi Zhao	...	Housekeeper
Lin Kong	...	Yan'er
Shuyuan Jin	...	Yuru (First Wife)
Weimin Ding	...	Songlian's Mother (voice)
Zhengyin Cao	...	Old Servant
Zhigang Cui	...	Dr. Gao (as Zhihgang Cui)
Chu Xiao	...	Feipu

Storyline

China in the 1920's. After her father's death, nineteen year old Songlian is forced to marry Chen Zuoqian, the lord of a powerful family. Fifty year old Chen has already three wives, each of them living in separate houses within the great castle. The competition between the wives is tough, as their master's attention carries power, status and privilege. Each night Chen must decide with which wife to spend the night and a red lantern is lit in front of the house of his choice. And each wife schemes and plots to make sure it's hers. However, things get out of hand...

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Plot Keywords:

1920s | power struggle | tradition | red lantern | china | 

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Taglines:

China, 1920. One master, four wives.

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Genres:

Drama | History | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

China Hong Kong Taiwan

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

18 December 1991 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Raise the Red Lantern

Box Office

Gross USA:

$2,603,061

Company Credits

Production Co:

ERA International,China Film Co-Production Corporation,Century Communications

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list.

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Goofs

Around 01:18:59, there is a lot of smoke in front of the third wife. And there is almost no smoke in front of the second one.

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Quotes

Songlian's mother: Rich man? If you marry a rich man, you will only be his concubine.
Songlian: Let me be a concubine. Isn't that the fate of a woman?

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Connections

Referenced in About Schmidt (2002)

User Reviews

A Masterpiece beyond the definition

Every frame of this film explodes with excellent acting, cinematography, music and art direction. I never thought I would see something so beautiful in a foreign film since Ingmar Bergman's work. This is by no means, an art film this is a human film, while holding an ethnic background these people portrayed in the film are all of us and is probably what we would call a fable on the cruelty of humanity. I'am disgusted to discover this film isn't on video or DVD in america. It seems as if its popularity has run thin since the 90's but this is a masterpiece people!