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| Tookey's Review |
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| Pro Reviews |
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| Mixed Reviews |
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| Cast |
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| Released: |
1992 |
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| Genre: |
DRAMA
FOREIGN
COSTUME
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| Origin: |
China/ Hongkong/ Taiwan |
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| Colour: |
C |
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| Length: |
126 |
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A young woman (Gong Li, pictured) becomes, much against her will, the fourth wife of a rich old merchant.
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Reviewed by Chris Tookey
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I was very disappointed by this, especially as Zhang Yimou's previous film, Ju Dou, was one of my 10 favourites of 1991. His trademarks are all here: a period setting, a gorgeous leading actress (Gong Li again), lush colours, a stifled sensuality, a sense of tragically wasted lives. And, pretty clearly, it's another coded attack on the elderly, male, faceless Chinese establishment. It's worth seeing, especially if you haven't seen any of Yimou's work before, but it doesn't add to anything he has said before, much more effectively. The pace is soporific, and there's something mannered, literary and aetiolated about it, like the worst of Merchant Ivory.
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, Ma Jingwu, He Caifei