Ju Dou (1990)

Original title

菊豆

Directed by

Yang Fengliang, Zhang Yimou

Genre

drama film, romance film

Country

People's Republic of China, Japan

Runtime

1h 35m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 180 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A beautiful young woman is forced into marriage with an elderly cloth dyer in rural China. She begins a secret affair with her husband's nephew, leading to tragedy.

tragicvisually lushmelancholictenseslow-burnoppressiveintimateemotional

What happens

Ju Dou (Chinese: 菊豆; pinyin: Jú Dòu) is a 1990 Mandarin-language romantic-drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and Yang Fengliang, starring Gong Li as the title character. The film, based on the novel Fuxi, Fuxi (伏羲伏羲) by Liu Heng, is a tragedy that revolves around Ju Dou, a beautiful young woman sold as a wife to Jinshan, an elderly cloth dyer. The film was produced using the vivid Technicolor process, long after it had been abandoned in the United States. It became the first Chinese film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Upon its release, Ju Dou faced a ban in China, which was lifted in July 1992. Li Ruihuan reversed the ban after viewing the film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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• Shadow of China (1990)
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• Red Dust (1990)
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