Light a red lantern

In the 20s of the 20th century, a rich fifty-year-old Chinese feudal lord Chen took a fourth wife to her house — an educated city girl called Songlian, whose father had died. Before marriage, she studied at the university for six months, but studies are expensive, she is forced to leave school and sell in marriage. She is now the youngest wife of the feudal lord, which causes a bright feud, jealousy and hatred of older wives. Each wife has a separate house of a large estate. Yuzhu's first wife is Chen's age, he was in love with her in her youth. She bore him a son. Zhuyun's second wife looks simple and caring, she warmly accepts Songlian and gives her expensive silk for a dress. Meishan's third wife is an opera singer in the past, bright, flirtatious, and selfish.

Chen's house strictly observes a variety of traditions. One of them is that in the mornings all the wives go out into the common corridor, and the servants announce who Chen will spend the night with. On the eaves inside the house of this wife hang a lot of red lanterns. The attention of the lord gives his wife the power, status and privileges for a day, and they intrigue, doing everything possible to be chosen by Chen. All wives, except for Chen, are called by numbers, Songlian is called the “Fourth Sister”.

In the service of Sunliani, they give the village girl Yan'er, who herself dreams of becoming a mistress, and envies Sunlian. Chen seduced her, and she, dreaming of becoming the Fourth Sister, adorned her closet with the same lanterns that her wives hung out for the night. When Songlian appeared in the house, for anger, Yanjer colluded with the second wife Zhuyun and, according to her teachings, made the Songan doll, in which she stuck needles. One day, Meishan’s third wife is calling the Fourth Sister to play majiang for a visit, where, by chance looking under the table, Songlian discovers that Meishan is stroking the leg of the doctor with her foot.

Among the things, Songlian was her father's flute . Yanjer, going through things, found the flute and gave it to Chen, who decided that it was a gift from one of the students and burned it. Songlian, looking for the flute, went into the house of Yan'er, where she found a doll and lanterns. She learned from the maid what the Second Sister wrote for the illiterate Yan'er the name of Sunlian on the doll. Meanwhile, Chen began visiting Zhuyun, and the Fourth Sister decided to imitate the pregnancy so that Chen began to spend time with her and she became pregnant for real. Now the whole house takes the vagaries of Songlian. Yan'er discovered bloody pants among the hostess’s dirty laundry, as Zhoyun said. Ta, realizing that Sunlyan is having her period , and consequently, she is not pregnant, she asks Chen to send the family doctor to the Second Sister. The doctor reveals the truth to Chen, the husband is angry and demands that the lanterns on the Songlian house be closed with cloth cases.

Winter comes and Sunlian's birthday. She is inconsolable and asks for wine to forget. Intoxicated, Songyan begins to laugh out loud, the Second Sister comes to her with her maid, and Songyan misses her name about the Third Sister, after which she falls into a dream. That same evening, Zhouyun sends for Meishan, she is caught in bed with a doctor. The next Meishan is found hanging out, Songlian sees her and goes crazy.

Next summer, Chen is getting married for the fifth time.

• Gong Li - Songlian, fourth wife
• He Saifei - Meishan, the third wife
• Cao Cuyfen - Zhouoyan, second wife
• Ma Jing'u - Mr. Chen Baishun
• Zhao Qi - house manager
• Kun Ling - Maid Janier
• Jin Shuyuan - Yuzhu, first wife

The film continues the theme of a woman and her destiny in a patriarchal family, begun in the previous works of Zhang Yimou. For this, the director uses a number of stylistic techniques. So, the whole action of the tape unfolds within one year (the plot is divided into parts corresponding to the pores of the year) in the same place - the estate of the Chinese feudal lord, with its many rooms, courtyards and passages. Massive architecture plays an important role in the development of the plot, reflecting the insignificance of the characters' fate. This is facilitated by the wide use of long-range plans by the director; the camera does not often approach the characters. So, it is almost impossible to discern the face of the host, which symbolizes his detachment from female characters; only sometimes the main character gets into the close-up. These stylistic features give the viewer the opportunity to look at what is happening as if from the side, from an objective point of view. ^[one]

• 1991 - three awards of the Venice Film Festival : “Silver Lion”, FIPRESCI Prize and Elvira Notari Prize (all - Zhang Yimou).
• 1992 - Oscar nomination for best film in a foreign language.
• 1992 - “ David di Donatello ” award for the best foreign film (Zhang Yimou), as well as nomination in the category “Best Foreign Actress” (Gong Li).
• 1992 - in the top ten foreign films according to the National Council of Film Critics of the United States .
• 1993 - BAFTA Award for Best Film not in English (Chi Fusheng, Zhang Yimou).
• 1993 - two awards “One Hundred Flowers” : best film, best actress (Gong Li).
• 1993 - London Film Critics Award for the best foreign film of the year.
• 1993 - nomination for the “ Independent Spirit ” award for the best foreign film (Zhang Yimou).

In the mid-1990s, Zhang Yimou received a proposal from the leadership of the National Ballet to create a performance based on his film. The director wrote the libretto in his own script and personally participated in the production. The premiere of the “ Light the Red Lantern ” ballet to the music of Chen Qigang in choreography by Wang Zinpeng and Wang Yuanyuan took place in 2001 . The Chinese National Ballet repeatedly showed this performance during its tours abroad, in 2007 its Moscow show completed the cultural program of the year of China in Russia ^[2]

• Light a red lantern on the allmovie website  
• Light a Red Lantern on Box Office Mojo