FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Zhang Yimou - Raise The Red Lantern (engl. subt.) 

Zhang Yimous Raise The Red Lantern is about sexual slavery. The main character enters a self-contained system from which there is no escape. It is a 19-year-old student who, after the death of her father, has to work as the fourth "lover" of a rich gentleman, as the mother refuses to support her. She is delivered to his house, which she is not allowed to leave. There are traditional rules. How realistic is that? Hard to say! Zhang Yimou settled his film in China of the 20s. Concubines were no rarity at that time, but the conditions in this house are probably unique. As in all early Yimou movies, the leading role is played by Gong Li. It's beautiful and that's also what the film is about! All four concubines live in their own house, the fifth and biggest one is inhabited by the master. Together they form a complex, the centre of which is a courtyard. Inside the houses of the lovers are illuminated red, red, the colour of passion. Many scenes take place on the roofs, which in turn look like a labyrinth of stairs and staircases. The complex is only apparently clear! Gong Lis figure is called Songlian and often she comes into conflict with the servant of the master named Yan'er (Kong Lin). Yan'er for her part has strong ambitions to become a "lover" herself. The first "lover" is already older and will probably be replaced soon. The second one seems to be kind with a face that isn't at all unlike that of Buddha. The third, an opera singer, is young, beautiful and jealous. Everything is organized by traditional rules that will never change. Of course the servants follow these rules much more obediently than the master himself. The servant, for example, follows the "laws" with such absolution that even then she still seems to be present because she is absent. We never see the Master himself, at least not frontally. His patriarchal rule is so perfect that he does not need his own "character". The Master is not an individual, we do not know his face. He operates through his servant, who assures him of his total dominance. Before Songlian arrives, the three lovers do not live in balance with each other. Songlian becomes their valve for everything that is unbalanced. She learns that the master hangs out a red lantern at night, which determines his favorite for the night. The lucky winner gets a foot massage and can choose the menu for the following day. This competition leads to intrigue and Songlian can never be sure that those who call themselves friends are. It's strange how much these women sacrifice themselves for the master and the family and see each other as enemies! There may be a feminist message in Yimou's drama, but it never becomes explicit. Equally important are the gorgeous colours and beauty of the women (especially Gong Lis!). Of course all these women were raped, but we never see sex on canvas. Yimou's film understands the nature of these rapes as social added value. He shows the conditions of it, not the sex. Maybe the master doesn't even visit his "lovers" for pleasure, but to remind them of their duties. Above all, he assigns them their places. Raise The Red Lantern is divided into a prologue and five chapters. At the end Songlian appears in a close-up, because this is their story. It is their fight against this system - a system controlled by monetary constraints. Zhang Yimou belongs to the fifth generation of Chinese directors after the Cultural Revolution. A generation which worked much more openly than it would have been possible in Mao's time, but which still lived the frustration until the opening of China. Raise The Red Lantern is of such bewitching beauty and clarity, of such uncompromising directness, that one might think that the Chinese film industry would have made masterpieces like this possible, without being able to deal with them now.