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Raise the Red Lantern

Da hong Deng long Gao gao Gua (Raise the Red Lantern)

1991

Zhang Yimou

Gong Li, Jin Shuyuan, Cao Cuifen, He Caifei ...

8.0

11,883

Drama China in the 1920's. After her father's death, 19 year-old Songlian is forced to marry Chen Zuoqian, the lord of a powerfull family. 50 year-old Chen has already three wives, each of them living in a separate house within the great castle. The competition between the wives is tough, as their master's attention carries power, status and privileges. Each night Chen must decide which wife spends the night with him, and a red lantern is lit ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"A Chinese film of voluptuous physical beauty and angry passions (...) It works because it is so fascinating simply on the level of melodrama (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Janet Maslin The New York Times	"A beautifully crafted and richly detailed feat of consciousness-raising and a serious drama with the verve of a good soap opera (...) As visually striking as it is dramatically effective"	POS
United Kingdom	Derek Malcolm The Guardian	"Yimou shot the film so that its rich colours and claustrophobic atmosphere matched the story perfectly (...) A marvellously structured, richly imagined and well-acted piece of work"	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"A magnificent film that confirms Zhang as a world-class director (...) Gong Li delivers a performance of exquisite expressiveness that, like the film itself, is unnerving in its emotional nakedness."	POS
United Kingdom	David Parkinson Empire	"A haunting, beautiful film ably led by the perfectly understated performances of the main actors. A delight (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Desson Thomson The Washington Post	"There isn't an arbitrary hue in the movie. In purely aesthetic terms, 'Raise the Red Lantern' is breathtaking (...) There's an appropriately stifling quality to the movie."	POS
United Kingdom	Geoff Andrew Time Out	"Zhang's film elicits a strong sense of 'déjà vu' (...) The acting is excellent, too, but one can't help but feel that Zhang has said it all before and more imaginatively."	NEU
United States	Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle	"Beautiful to the eye yet caustic to the touch (...) It's an indictment of the ways in which we participate in our own subjugation (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"A story that explicitly critiques Chinese feudalism and indirectly contemporary China (...) Zhang confirms his mastery and artistry here in many ways"	POS

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