“Raise the Red Lantern” is directed by Zhang Yimou in 1991 and the story is set in the republican period of China. This work has won many awards at home and abroad. The film does have its uniqueness. The film is adapted from Su Tong’s novella “Wifes and Concubines”. In inheriting and promoting the original theme and style, Zhang Yimou’s unique visual effects and heavy historical and cultural background are also penetrated. It reflects the relationship between people within the feudal family under the ‘‘ polygamy ’’, the life scene of secret fighting and the corresponding principles of survival.
During the period of the Republic of China in the 1920s, there were a Chen mansion located on a certain town. The rich man Chen Zuoqian has his wife Yuru, her second mistress Zhuo Yun and her third mistress Mei Shan. 19-year-old female college student Song Lian was forced to drop out of school and marry into Chen’s house due to a change in her family, and became the fourth mistress of Chen’s father. According to Chen ’s rules, when Mrs. Chen is going to spend the night in his aunt ’s house, a red lantern will be hung high in front of the aunt ’s house; Wrap the red lantern in a black cloth cover and hang it high to show that she is no longer favored.
When the young and beautiful Song Lian entered the Chen Mansion, she was involved in the open fight between the wives and mistresses. Song Lian, who gradually fell out of favor, so she pretended to be pregnant and became the beloved one of chen. But Yaner discovered the truth while washing her clothes, and told the matter to her second mistress Tai Zhuoyun, Song Lian was then ditched. Before Yan’er whistleblower, Songlian discovered that Yan’er was hiding old lanterns, she also want to be one of chen’s mistress. She originally planned to keep a secret, but then she discovered that Yan’er was whistleblowing, and then she exposed the matter. Yaner knelt on the snow but refused to admit her mistakes and eventually died.
Yan’er’s death made Song Lian’s trance and depression, and she vent by drinking. After a drunkenness, she inadvertently broke the secret of her third mistress, Meishan, and Dr. Gao. Mei Shan was hanged in the penthouse of Chenfu. Song Lian collapsed into a lunatic. In the second year, Chen’ mansion ushered in the wife of the fifth house mistress.
The excellent control of the color not only made the ” Raise the red lantern” highly ornamental, also made this movie to have a strong visual impact. Songlian which played by Gong Li as the core character, she transformed from an educated college student into the desperate mistress and turned her life into a prison cage, and distorted the normal human nature, thus making a strong criticism of the feudal darkness.
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