Raise the Red Lantern

Zhang Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern is coming to The Frida Cinema! A visually stunning masterpiece of power, jealousy, and survival, the films also stars the incomparable Gong Li in one of her most celebrated performances. In 1920s China, 19-year-old Songlian is forced to abandon her studies and marry a wealthy older man as his fourth wife. Inside his palatial estate, a nightly ritual determines which wife receives his attention, and the privileges that come with it. Soon, the household becomes a battleground of ruthless competition. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this landmark of Chinese cinema transforms a seemingly simple domestic drama into a devastating portrait of patriarchal power, full of Zhang Yimou’s signature sumptuous colors.