Zhang Yimou and his muse Gong Li's third masterpiece DA HONG DENGLONG GAOGAO GUA is my favourite: sumptious, thrilling and haunting.
China, 1920: nineteen year-old Songlian has to leave university when her beloved father dies and her stepmother marries her off to a rich man.
At her husband's labyrinthine compound she discovers her marriage follows his ancestor's strict rules.
Songlian is his fourth wife: the first, Yuru, is older and used to being overlooked but is the mother of the heir, the second wife Zhuoyun is ingratiatingly friendly and warns Songlian about the third wife Meishan, a former Chinese Opera singer seemingly jealous of Songlian for being the new wife.
Every night the Master chooses his wife for the night meaning the wife's room is festooned with red lanterns, they are given foot massages and can choose the day's food.
As Songlian joins the wives' power struggle, treachery erupts...
Shelf or charity shop? The red lanterns are lit in my plastic DVD storage box. A film of immense power helped immeasureably by Zhao Fei's luminous cinematography. Although the script was officially sanctioned, the completed film was initially banned in China. Although Zhang denied it the film's harsh look at the patriarchal rule within the house can be read as a political critique. But this does not detract from Zhang's marvellous story-telling and by keeping us focussed on the dangerous power-play between the three main wives, we slowly become gripped by the story which was based on a novel by Su Tong. There are marvellous performances from He Saifei as Meishan, the third wife who initially seems to be Songlian's enemy and Cao Cuifen as Zhuoyun, the second wife with "the face of the Buddha and the heart of a scorpion" as well as memorable support from Kong Lin as Yan'er, Songlian's insolent maid. But the film remains a tribute to the glowing Gong Li as Songlian, at times rivalling Louise Brooks as one of the great unknowable screen presences.
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