- Overview
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
18 December 1991
- DirectingZhang Yimou
- Budget
$1,000,000.00
- Revenue
$16,600,000.00
- Stars
Videos
User Reviews
See moreFilipe Manuel Neto
08 March 2023
**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.
More Like This
The Great Love
The attractive Oberleutnant Paul Wendlandt is stationed in North Africa as a fighter pilot. While in Berlin to deliver a report he is given a day's...
See more
The Last Castle
A court-martialed general rallies together 1200 inmates to rise against the system that put him away.
See more
Ski Lift to Death
A sports promoter tries to matchmake for a pair of ski champions and, as a result, they end up trapped in a derailed ski-lift car along with a...
See more
Benny's Video
A 14-year-old video enthusiast obsessed with violent films decides to make one of his own and show it to his parents, with tragic results.
See more
The People at No. 19
Reported cases of sexually transmitted disease took a sharp rise during and after World War II, but as this film testifies, sexual license amongst...
See more
The Inheritors
In a small farming valley in Austria in the beginning of the 20th century a tyrannical farmer is found dead, and all the farmhands are relieved to...
See more
The Prestige
A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy...
See more
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Opportunity knocks in the form of a...
See more
Blood Diamond
An ex-mercenary turned smuggler. A Mende fisherman. Amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone, these men join for two desperate...
See more
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
After five (or six) years of vanilla-wedded bliss, ordinary suburbanites John and Jane Smith are stuck in a huge rut. Unbeknownst to each other...
See more
Annaluise & Anton
Despite their social differences Luise, called Pünktchen, a girl from rich parentage befriends Anton, a boy who has to earn his own money in order...
See more
Greed
A lottery win of $5,000 forever changes the lives of a miner turned dentist and his wife.
See more
The Last King of Scotland
Young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan decides it's time for an adventure after he finishes his formal education, so he decides to try his luck...
See more
Brief Encounter
Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with...
See more
Oppol
Appu is very close with his elder sister, Malu. When she gets married to Govindan, she takes Appu along with them. But problems arise when Appu...
See more
A Lost Lady
A bitter woman who thinks she'll never love again marries, only to fall for a brash young man.
See more
Rocky III
Now the world champion, Rocky Balboa is living in luxury and only fighting opponents who pose no threat to him in the ring, until Clubber Lang...
See more
Michael Collins
Michael Collins plays a crucial role in the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, but becomes vilified by those hoping to create a...
See more
Anubhav
Newspaper editor Amar (Kumar) grows distant from his wife Meeta (Tanuja) because his new assistant is her former lover Shashi (Thakur). Amar cannot...
See more
Chicago
Murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s...
See more