Raise the Red Lantern 大红灯笼高高挂 1991- China/Hong Kong/Taiwan

This past weekend, I was finally able to watch Zhang Yimou's 1991 film, Raise the Red Lantern (大红灯笼高高挂). The first time I saw the trailer for this movie, I was sitting in my Contemporary Asian Cinema class in Seoul, South Korea. The trailer for this movie alone made me want to watch it, but I never had the chance to do so until now. Let me just say, this film was just as good as the trailer made it out to be.   

Zhang Yimou is a highly acclaimed director of the 'fifth generation' of Chinese film makers. Though the film maker has had many successful films under his belt including Hero (2001), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and To Live (1994), during his earlier career many of his films failed to pass Chinese censor and were banned in the country for a period of time. Raise the Red Lantern was a part of these films, and sadly never made it to the big screen. It didn't stop this beautiful film from success around the world winning several awards including a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1992 Academy of Awards. What makes this film so entrancing? Let's take a look. 

Set in 1920's China, Raise The Red Lantern follows the story of Songlian, played by Gong Li (To Live, Memoirs of a Geisha). Songlian's father passes away, leading the family into bankruptcy and forcing her to drop out of university. With no where to turn, the 19 year old girl marries into a wealthy household and becomes the Fourth Mistress. Upon her arrival, she finds herself being courted to like royalty, receiving a maid of her own, and offered foot massages nightly.  The film takes a turn when Songlian meets the three other wives, ranging in age from young and beautiful to old and tired. It seems all of the wives had had many years of practice in courting the master's attention. Though the master plays a huge role in the film, the audience is purposely never shown his face. By doing this, the movie aims the focus more on the wives and Songlian, rather than the master of the house. 

The film opens with a close up shot of our protagonist. Songlian is speaking to her stepmother. The shot never cuts away from her and we never see her stepmother. The dialogue is as follow:

"Mother, stop! You've been talking for three days. I've thought it over. All right, I'll get married."

"Good! To what sort of a man?"

"What sort of man? Is it up to me? You always speak of money. Why shouldn't I marry a rich man?"

"Marry a rich man and you'll only be his concubine."

"Let me be a concubine. Isn't that a woman's fate?"

With just her emotions, the tears strolling down her face, and the dialogue, audience can expect what will come from this movie. What is interesting about Zhang Yimou's directing style, particularly in the film, is he loves long takes. The first scene does this well. The camera stays on Songlian for quite some time even after she finishes speaking. When most directors would cut away, Yimou stays on the girl's face, really making the emotions of the scene stand out. 

The long shots continue in this film, from shots inside the wives' bedrooms, to the wide shots of the massive house structure, all which play an important role in this film. By showing how massive the household is, I believe Yimou is trying to create a symbolism that the house is like a prison for anyone living there. This idea definitely hold up as the movie continues, and Songlian begins to realize more things about the Master and his wives.

Besides his wonderful directorial style, the use of long takes, wide shots, and usage of color through out the film, the storyline itself is quite entertaining, in a sad way of course. 

After becoming the fourth mistress, Songlian is thrown into a household of century long customs and rules that she and her sister wives must follow. One includes the nightly parade of red lanterns. All the wives must stand outside to see who is privileged enough to have the Master's affections that night. Once he has chosen, red lanterns are lighted and hung along the wife's household. Though it never goes into detail why this was a custom in the family, I feel it was a way for the Master to make the wives starve for his attention more. By making such a spectacle over something like this, makes it more embarrassing for the wives not chosen. I believe the same goes for the tool they use to give the foot massages to. In the film, it makes this rattling noise that many times in the film can be heard echoing through the compound. These scenes happen on purpose normally ending with one of the wives upset or making an excuse as to why it was better they weren't chosen that night. I do not know much about foot massage tools, but once again I felt it was a way to make the wives upset that they were not the chosen. 

Raise the Red Lantern is such a sad and heartbreaking story, but Yimou did a wonderful job in making the film beautiful to watch. It b ecame such a renowned film that the National Ballet of China actually recreated the film on stage. Yimou was given the task of staging the production. From the image to the left, it looks like it was just as beautiful as the film. Check out a clip from the ballet below as well! 

Aside from what I talked about, Raise the Red Lantern has many other things that have made it such a popular and well made film. If you have seen this film, what do you like about Yimou's directing style? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Check out the trailer for Raise The Red Lantern Below!

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