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Drama

Raise the Red Lantern

- China, 1920. One Master, Four Wives.

In 1920s China, nineteen-year-old Songlian becomes a concubine of a powerful lord and is forced to compete with his three wives for the privileges gained.

Release Date : 1991-12-18

Language :Mandarin

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : ERA InternationalChina Film Co-Production Corp.Century CommunicationsSalon Films

Production Country : ChinaHong KongTaiwan

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Gong Li

Character Name : Song Lian

Original Name : Gong Li

Gender : Female

Ma Jingwu

Character Name : Chen Zuo Qian

Original Name : 马精武

Gender : Male

He Saifei

Character Name : Mei Shan

Original Name : 何賽飛

Gender : Female

Cao Cuifen

Character Name : Zhuo Yun

Original Name : Cao Cuifen

Gender : Female

Kong Lin

Character Name : Yan'er

Original Name : 孔琳

Gender : Female

Shuyuan Jin

Character Name : Yu Ru

Original Name : Shuyuan Jin

Gender : Female

Chu Xiao

Character Name : Fei Pu

Original Name : Chu Xiao

Gender : Male

Ding Weimin

Character Name : Mother Song

Original Name : Ding Weimin

Gender : Female

Cao Zengyin

Character Name : Old Servant

Original Name : 曹增银

Gender : Male

Cui Zhigang

Character Name : Dr. Gao

Original Name : Cui Zhi-Gang

Gender : Male

Zhou Qi

Character Name : Chen Baishun

Original Name : Zhou Qi

Gender : Male

Reviews

F

Filipe Manuel Neto

@FilipeManuelNeto

2023-03-08

**In the context of oriental cinema, it's a good film... but it's very different from the cinema that we, in the West, are used to, and this difference ends up killing our interest in this work.** I think this movie was the first Chinese movie I saw, I'm not really sure. I am not an expert on the cinema of this country, but I can say that it is one of those films that you see without much special interest. Of course, I'm talking about the standard audience, because there are really oriental film lovers who will be more interested in this material. The script is based on the story of Song Lian, a very young and well-formed girl who, after her father's death, is coerced into finding a rich man to marry. She ends up being the fourth wife of a man, having to live with the other wives and learn how to behave in a complex family system, where rivalries and envy are part of everyday life. The film shows us a type of family life that, for us in the West, is far from being understandable. It could only take place in strongly patriarchal societies, where the role of women is more than subordinate. It's not a great film, but it's frankly decent, and I don't rule out the likelihood that it's a classic of Chinese cinema (experts will opine better). Gong Li does a very good job in the role of the young Song Lian, and is very well supported by Saifei He, Cuifen Cao, Lin Kong and Qi Zhao. Jingwu Ma doesn't do an inferior job either, in the role of the patriarch and husband of all those wives. The cinematography is very good, as are the costumes and sets, which take us back in time and geography. What prevented the film, perhaps, from being a greater success in the West was the lack of publicity and the difficulty in adapting to the environment of the film, which is very different from the cinema that Hollywood usually exports: it is much more meditative, passive and depressive than most of the cinema we used to see.