Raise the Red Lantern (1991), Movie Review Example

Raise the Red Lantern (1991) is a critically acclaimed Chinese film that showcases the customs of the warlord era before the eruption of the Chinese Civil War. The film focuses on Songlian, the fourth wife and third concubine of Master Chen, and how she goes from being his favored wife to being banished and shunned from his attentions. To this day, Raise the Red Lantern remains one of China’s most significant and impactful films.

Raise the Red Lantern follows a young Songlian as she makes her way to the home of Master Chen in order to become his fourth wife. Upon her arrival, Songlian is treated favorably and is quickly submersed into the culture and traditions of the home. She learns that the wife that her husband chooses to spend the night with is often given special privileges for the day; these privileges include foot rubs, special attention from servants for the day, and the right to choose and/or determine the house’s menu for the day. Because there are four wives that must compete on a daily basis for their husband’s attention, fierce competition quickly arises between Songlian and the first three wives. In order to remain in her husband’s favor, Songlian attempts to manipulate him into believing that she is pregnant, a condition with which she will be afforded even more luxuries. Despite the fact that Songlian gets along with the other three wives when she first arrives, after her pregnancy is revealed to be fake, she is cast out of her husband’s favor and the lanterns—which are lit to indicate which wife Master Chen will spend the night with—are covered in black indefinitely. In her solitude, as she is now banished from the rest of the house, Songlian lashes out at the other wives, exploiting their secrets and subsequently contributing to the execution of the Third Wife who was killed according to tradition for having an extramarital affair. This causes Songlian to become even more detached from the household, and her sanity, and she is forced to live out the rest of her life trapped within the confines of the house, completely alone and insane.

Raise the Red Lantern is an exquisite film that provides insight into the pre-Communist practice of polygamy. Moreover, the film allows the viewer to see how social status helped to determine what one could and could not do. For instance, Master Chen’s social status allowed him to keep a large household and meet the needs of four wives, later five; in the same regard, Songlian’s social status at the beginning of the film helps the viewer to understand why she married into Chen’s household. While Songlian initially married Chen for security, the politics within the household helped Songlian to realize that security was not a sure thing and that she had to be in constant competition with the other wives. Moreover, social hierarchy is demonstrated in the relationship between Songlian and Yan’er. Although Songlian was forced to marry Master Chen in order to survive, her social standing before entering into the house was higher than Yan’er’s, who does not have the opportunity for social mobility even though she has fantasized about marrying Master Chen.

One of the elements that makes the film so intriguing is the subtle subterfuge, backstabbing, and fight for power among the wives. The complex relationship among the wives helps to demonstrate that social hierarchy not only exists outside the confines of the house and between the wives and servants, but also among the wives themselves. Moreover it is interesting to see how the wives manipulate and interact with each other because they are not openly aggressive toward each other, but rather are passive aggressive. For instance, Second Mistress, who is described as having the face of a Buddha but the heart of a scorpion, is the most manipulative of the group. First Wife and Third Wife have learned to cope with the fact that Master Chen will not always choose them—First Wife content with being the head of the household and Third Wife having an extramarital affair with the family physician.

Another element that makes the film intriguing is the set design. The film uses a lot of red, which has long been associated with good fortune and joy. The use of the color red and its symbolic affiliation is somewhat ironic for Songlian as her pursuit of having the red lanterns lit in front of her house is unfortunate and tragic. Additionally, the layout and palatial size of the home, as can be seen when Third Wife is practicing opera on the roof, helps to demonstrate that a wife can easily become forgotten and that she has to do everything that she can in order to remain relevant—that is if she wishes to continue to compete for Master Chen’s affections. The film effectively showcases the opulence that the higher social classes had access to and how their lives contrasted those of the lower—not necessarily destitute—social classes. Moreover, the film demonstrates the lengths to which a person will go to in order to secure their place within a particular hierarchy. For example, Songlian sacrificed her freedom and education for stability and security and Second Wife did everything that she could to psychologically and subtly manipulate Songlian, which resulted in not only eliminating Songlian from competing for Master Chen’s affections, but also helped to eliminate competition from Third Wife.

Although the film is strong through narrative and set design, it would have been nice to see Songlian’s reaction to discovering Third Mistresses body. This would have made Songlian’s tale more impactful because seeing what has happened to Third Mistress, and the role she had in her execution, is the reason that Songlian loses her sanity and becomes even more withdrawn than before. It would have been nice to see Songlian lose all control during the final scene to highlight the fact that she was no longer in control of anything, nor was she given any consideration by anyone in the household.

Overall, Raise the Red Lantern is a film worth watching. The backstabbing that occurs among the wives and the servants demonstrates how people will do anything and everything to survive or remain relevant. The film also demonstrates how people can learn to cope with their current situations or how they can try to manipulate the system.

References

All About the Color Red. (n.d.) Accessed 17 April 2012 from, http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-messages-meanings/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-red.html

Hays, J. (2008) Concubines, Mistresses, Polygamy, and Divorce in China. Accessed 17 April 2012 from, http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=108&catid=4&subcatid=20

Raise the Red Lantern (1991). Dir. Zhang Yimou. China: MGM. Film.