A Resplendent ‘Lantern,’ Undimmed by Time

Zhang Yimou’s “Raise the Red Lantern” (1991) was based on a novella by a contemporary Chinese writer, Su Tong. Originally published as “Wives and Concubines,” Mr. Su’s story about the uses and abuses of custom is notably devoid of the light source providing the title for Mr. Zhang’s movie. The international success of the latter led Mr. Su to rename his book accordingly. It also prompted the Chinese Communist Party to lift a ban on a film it had previously considered subversive. Plaudits don’t move mountains, but they can make authoritarian governments blink.Film Forum is hosting a revival of “Raise the Red Lantern” on the occasion of a 4K restoration coinciding with the movie’s 35th anniversary. The lead actress, Gong Li, saw her stardom increase with the picture after having already starred in Mr. Zhang’s “Red Sorghum” (1988) and “Ju Dou” (1990). For her troubles, Ms. Gong was cast in English-speaking films of less merit, including Michael Mann’s “Miami Vice” (2006) and Peter Webber’s “Hannibal Rising” (2007). All the while she continued to lend her good graces to Mr. Zhang, starring in five more of his films, the last being “Coming Home” (2014).Ms. Gong’s take on Songlian, the fourth wife of Master Chen (Ma Jingwu), who is no easy soul, is considered by many to be her finest performance. “Raise the Red Lantern” was, in fact, tailored for her. Ms. Gong’s beauty coincides with a narrative that involves the vagaries of age and sexual attraction, but her physiognomy is also made commensurate with the film’s setting, an extravagant 18th-century edifice built by a financier for the Qing Dynasty, Qiao Zhiyong. Mr. Zhang repeatedly aligns the architectural structure with Ms. Gong’s features, which are prized, in some quarters, for their symmetry. The dynamic that accrues between the inanimate and the animate is eerily modulated.But, then, the entirety of the picture is uncanny. Though the events that take place occur in the early twentieth century–the story depends, in important ways, on telephones and phonographs–the overall tenor is feudal, a kind of hallucinatory no man’s land. Mores are antiquated and traditions, whether familial or cultural, binding. When Songlian’s father dies and she loses the funding for a college education, she decides, rather impulsively, on a life of concubinage. Agreeing to become the fourth mistress of a wealthy man, the 19-year-old is given splendid accommodations and sumptuous finery, but burdensome oppression is the rule.The other women belonging to Master Chen are disgruntled, vindictive and jealous. First mistress (Jin Shuyuan) is elegantly appointed but all too aware of her mortality, while second mistress (Cao Cuifen) has a deceptively bland demeanor. Third mistress (He Saifei) is a onetime opera singer who isn’t much older than Songlian and is possessive of the Master’s attentions. Knitted within this tensile mix is Yan’er (Kong Lin), Songlian’s maid, who had her own designs on becoming the fourth mistress. Each day the household awaits the ritual lighting of red lanterns outside the quarters of the woman with whom the Master will spend the night.Master Chen isn’t seen up close or clearly: Though his voice booms, he is invariably placed at a significant distance from the frame. If anything, the patriarch’s authority is embodied more fully by the Qiao Family Compound, an extravagant Qing-dynasty residential complex in Shanxi Province, associated with the financier Qiao Zhiyong, a dense maze of De Chirico-like complexity. Up toward its roof is a room of nefarious purpose, and down below are men, not least the Master’s ghostly son (Chu Xiao) and a duplicitous doctor (Cui Zhihgang). Zhao Fei’s cinematography imbues both saturated and muted colors with a velvety cast, adding tangibility to an ambiance already heavy with mystery. A conundrum of a movie, “Raise the Red Lantern,” and an achievement of indisputable beauty.

A Resplendent ‘Lantern,’ Undimmed by Time

A Resplendent ‘Lantern,’ Undimmed by Time

More from the New York Sun

Moored at Charleston Harbor, United States Ship Yorktown Is a Steel Sentinel Saluting America’s Veterans

Iran Unveils New Underground ‘Missile City’ as Hegseth Warns U.S. Is ‘Locked and Loaded’ Amid Diplomatic Efforts To End War

Fetterman’s Primary Opponent Is a Radical Anti-Zionist Who Believes Jews Must ‘Relinquish Their Privilege in a Partitioned Israel

Bernie Sanders Becomes First Sitting Senator To Call for Schumer’s Removal as Democratic Leader

Mamdani Talks ‘Pied-à-Terre Tax 2,’ Saying ‘Wealthiest City’ in the World Can Afford ‘To Deliver Dignity’

Trump Rates Denuclearization as Top Topic at Next Week’s Trilateral Summit With Xi, Putin

The New York Trio Soon To Be Heading the Federal Government

A Few Good Movie Memories Overshadow Aaron Sorkin’s Broadway Revival

More from the New York Sun

Moored at Charleston Harbor, United States Ship Yorktown Is a Steel Sentinel Saluting America’s Veterans

Iran Unveils New Underground ‘Missile City’ as Hegseth Warns U.S. Is ‘Locked and Loaded’ Amid Diplomatic Efforts To End War

Fetterman’s Primary Opponent Is a Radical Anti-Zionist Who Believes Jews Must ‘Relinquish Their Privilege in a Partitioned Israel

Bernie Sanders Becomes First Sitting Senator To Call for Schumer’s Removal as Democratic Leader

Mamdani Talks ‘Pied-à-Terre Tax 2,’ Saying ‘Wealthiest City’ in the World Can Afford ‘To Deliver Dignity’

Trump Rates Denuclearization as Top Topic at Next Week’s Trilateral Summit With Xi, Putin

The New York Trio Soon To Be Heading the Federal Government

A Few Good Movie Memories Overshadow Aaron Sorkin’s Broadway Revival