Raise the Red Lantern
March 30th 2008 23:15
It takes place during the Warlord Era of China in the 20s, when the country was divided into warring fragments, each controlled by powerful masters who lived better than kings. At this time, it was common for rich men to have more than one wife - the more wives he had, the greater his wealth and standing.
Gong Li plays the main character, a young student named Songlian, who is forced to leave university when her father dies and marry as a fourth wife in a rich man's home. The unusual customs of the house and the devious politics between the wives plays out like a miniature version of war.
The master of the house is never seen clearly, only heard, and it is in this way that we realize that the man is irrelevant. The same situation could occur in 100 other houses, where women are merely cattle, treated like breeding stock. Certainly, that's the life that Songlian has been thrown into; each night, the master picks who he will spend the night with. Each wife waits at the entrance of her house within the compound, and a bent old man places a lit red lantern before one of them. That night, the woman will get a foot massage and gets to pick the menu for the next day.
Obviously, the women are kept captive. The film never leaves the compound, save for shots peering overtop of the houses, giving us a look at the expanse of the sky. The women, though, are grounded by gravity, and are trapped. Roger Ebert wisely points out that it's a form of rape:
"...these women are all essentially being raped as an effect of their position in a male-dominated society that holds them as economic captives."
In spite of their situation, the women fight over what power they have. In classic Chinese style, the insults come fast and hard, hidden behind sweet words and clay masks. Songlian, as the youngest and prettiest, causes trouble from the moment she steps into the compound.
Ronald Bergan, from the Guardian Film Blog, notes that the movie uses colour "intrinsically and creatively", with Zhang creating bleak shots, illuminated brilliantly with the red lanterns.
The Chinese use the colour red for luck and wealth, and "Raise the Red Lantern" gives us red in full beauty. When Songlian's compound is lit with lanterns, the entire frame seems illuminated with festive cheer. In the morning, though, when the lanterns are blown out, the somber, dusty world returns.
Ironically, though the film seems to criminalize the warlords and their treatment of women, Zhang's relationship with his actresses is eerily similar. When Gong Li fell out with Zhang Yimou, he found a younger, prettier actress called Zhang ZiYi, who we're all familiar with.
Though the warlords have dissolved from China's landscape, the film directors have risen to fill the gap, letting women bicker and squabble over who gets the rights to sit next to the filmmakers. Was this intentional on Zhang's part? Definitely not, as he probably did not foresee the line of actresses that he would eventually court.
It's a film of hard learned lessons... though Songlian tries to break from the system, she is inevitably broken by it, and the household lives on, the Master having his way with his infinite selection of women. Zhang wanted to show how the monsters of the patriarchal world will cruise through time, unchanged - unexpectedly, Zhang turned into one of his own monsters.
I say: A fantastic film, beautifully shot, with great style and pacing.
See it for: It was shot in Qiao's compound, a beautiful, ancient estate.
*the first image is from DVD Times and the image of Gong Li is from this CCTV page
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I remember first seeing this in the early years of high school... something like 10 years ago! I thought it was well-made then (and I loved the name Songlian), and I will have to re-watch it sometime soon.
Cool review.
P.S. I think Gong Li is very pretty, I don't know why mainstream Chinese audiences don't think so.
Comment by JohnDoe
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I love the visuals and poignancy of this film and it still stands as exceptional cinema.
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JD, it's a very visual movie, and it's based on a famous novel, which makes it ring loudly for Chinese people.
Wayne, if you like Asian movies, this is definitely one to watch. It reeks of cool and style...