Raise the Red Lantern (1991)

Original title

大红灯笼高高挂

Directed by

Zhang Yimou

Genre

historical film, romantic drama film

Country

People's Republic of China

Runtime

2h 05m

Rated

18

Rating

7.9 of 10 from 805 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young woman leaves college to become the fourth wife of a wealthy older man in 1920s China. She lives with his other wives in a large compound where daily life is ruled by tradition and rivalry.

visually strikingtenseslow-burnmelancholicoppressiveelegiacrestrainedsad

What happens

Raise the Red Lantern is a 1991 period drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. It is an adaptation by Ni Zhen of the 1990 novella Raise the Red Lantern (originally Wives and Concubines) by Su Tong. A Chinese-Hong Kong co-production, the film was later adapted into a ballet of the same title by the National Ballet of China, also directed by Zhang. Set during the Warlord Era in the 1920s, the film tells the story of a young woman who becomes the fourth wife of a wealthy man. It was the fourth of nine collaborations between Zhang and Gong. The film was shot in the Qiao Family Compound near the ancient city of Pingyao, in Shanxi Province. Raise the Red Lantern received widespread critical acclaim. It was entered into the 48th Venice International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion and won the Silver Lion. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and won the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language. It is considered an important work in the so-called Fifth Generation movement of Chinese cinema and is one of the most internationally highly-regarded films from mainland China overall; it appeared on The New York Times's list of the 1000 best films ever made in 2004 and on the BBC's list of the 100 greatest foreign language films in 2018. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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