1990 ‘菊豆’ Directed by Zhang Yimou
A woman married to the brutal and infertile owner of a dye mill in rural China conceives a boy with her husband's nephew but is forced to raise her son as her husband's heir without revealing his parentage in this circular tragedy. Filmed in glowing technicolour, this tale of romantic and familial love in the face of unbreakable tradition is more universal than its setting.
Semilla de crisantemo, Цзюй Доу, Ju Dou, amor secreto, 국두, Ju Dou – Flammende begjær, Ju Dou: Semilla de crisantemo, Ju Dou, semilla de crisantemo, Ju Dou Semilla de crisantemo, Дзю Доу, Cúc Đậu, Ju Dou: Secret Love, Hidden Faces, チュイトウ, ちゅいとう, Judou, Ju Dou: Flammende begjær, Amor e Sedução, Ju Dou, Amor Secreto
Japan
South Korea15
USAPG-13
Netherlands12
Netherlands12
Japan
Netherlands
South Korea
USA
Cruelty hidden under beauty. Kindness concealed under cruelty. A cinema of discoveries and contradictions. Can a person be both good and bad? Is it too much of an irreconcilable dichotomy or is it simply human nature? Can we forgive a cruel man when we see him become a gentle father? Can we justify the actions of a woman due to her past? How much can we delve into these problems, without ever finding a resolution aside from the most obvious answer: humans are flawed and, in most cases, unforgivable. They might be, in origin, gentle creatures, but on earth they are corrupted, inevitably life changes you, often for the worst, and in this desolated land compassion is maybe more a…
Cruelty and tragedy. Red dye pours into a pool, dirtied hands find a warmth, fabric floats down from above. Ju Dou is less elegant than Zhang Yimou's usual films, and perhaps even a crude movie, but such crudeness gives it character. This story of miserable lives is hard-hitting, as traditions are uprooted and power dynamics abruptly shift. Ju Dou is a quiet film, emphasising the simplistic nature of the text; a story to feel, not to think about. The storytelling is lean but Zhang uses colour to make as many moments as possible count. There's shots of flowing red and falling blue, light bleeds through the onscreen space, and shots are tinted to wonderful effect. This is a film of a secret love and only been able to reveal yourself as a show of pain. There's an imperfection to Ju Dou that stops it being a masterpiece, but as emotive cinema it's tautly constructed.
Eye to eye. Tragedy of love. Unwanted love. Forbidden love. Floating in the air, our dreams come. Seems impossible, but it's a choice. This is the mystery of love.
We're superstars who death by love.
Zhang Yimou made three very similar films in the beginning of his career. Red Sorghum, Ju Dou, and Raise the Red Lantern are all just literally about a woman played by the beautiful Gong Li being forced to marry a terrible man, and follows her struggles of trying to survive in cruel conditions.
It feels more polished than Red Sorghum, but lacks the subtlety and maturity of Raise the Red Lantern (his next film, and arguably his magnum opus). Her husband is exaggeratedly evil, beating Ju Dou for not being able to bear a son, even though he's infertile. The story is surprisingly really unpredictable, and every time I expect the plot to go one way, it goes another. It…
"When I buy an animal I treat it as I wish, and you're no better than an animal."
Desire in the shadow of a cruel ancestry. Ju Dou and Yang Tianqing live under the gauntlet of their savage master Yang Jinshan, husband to Ju Dou and uncle to Tianqing, abusive oppressor to both. These two victims fall in love through their shared suffering and manage to both conceive a child and convince their master that it's his, but this victory only brings more trouble. They must continue to hide their affection from the patriarch whom they serve, from the society in which they live, sometimes even from each other, and the taint of this repression spreads to their offspring. They give birth to a new generation, but their descendants remain corrupted by the cursed tradition of their decaying lineage. Old evil taints new hope, dying the fabric of cultural heritage, spreading like wildfire.
1990s | Zhang Yimou | China
Basically a noir in which two young lovers conspire against the woman's husband. Except they don't kill him (though they certainly think about it a few times) they just have sex behind his back and conceive a child. All the inevitable violence is done by the child, a Damien-like agent of destruction, of divine punishment for his elders' sins. (Though you can't really blame the poor kid for turning out evil, from what we can see, all these people are absolutely terrible parents.)
As usual with Zhang, the morality here is confused. The patriarch is cartoonishly villainous, beating poor Gong Li mercilessly (he has driven two previous wives to their deaths) and just an all around terrible person. So we…
A captivating tale of desire and retribution, “Ju Dou” dyes itself with a drop of outspreading cultural depth. Zhang Yimou sets his female-centric film in a 20th century Chinese village. Women as possessions are embodied by Ju Dou, who is bought, used, and abused by the infertile dye mill owner, Jinshan. Unable to bear him a child (since history has scapegoated women for men’s sterility), specifically a son, Ju Dou’s situation exacerbates; gagged and whipped for his arousal. Below the upper floor of molestation, Jinshan’s adopted, timid nephew, Tianqing, hears and peeps on his aunt. In the ambience of Tianqing’s distant lusting, Ju Dou’s body, which is the root of her affliction, also somehow provides her of an escape. There…
A young woman forced to marry a cruel husband finds love in the arms of another man. However, the happiness they both find is condemned to silence, to be ephemeral, and to bring with it a trail of suffering. Jú Dòu is the story of two lovers condemned by fate as well as a portrait of rural China at the beginning of the 20th century, its customs and traditions. A captivating and poetic tragedy dyed in colourful hues and full of intense feelings, violence, unrestrained passion and hatred. Zhang Yimou, in his second collaboration with Yang Fengliang, shows his talent behind the camera with this simple and vivid story full of beautiful images. Once again, the incomparable beauty and fragility of Gong Li will remain in my memory, whether it be among the waving fabrics with the sun shining on her back, or her devastating gaze lost among the fire and burning embers.
Between 1987 and 1991, Zhang Yimou made three films that all have a strikingly similar premise - a young woman (played in all three by Gong Li) is married off to an older patriarch during China's Republican era, yet ends up relying on her own wits to survive. Ju Dou is a fantastic film - more accessible than Red Sorghum, less shrewdly directed than Raise the Red Lantern, but more emotionally rich than both of those films.
This particular version of the story is sheer melodrama, as well as a transitional moment between the uniquely primitive storytelling style Zhang used in Red Sorghum and the more mature, character-centred approach of Raise the Red Lantern. Set in a dyeing mill, the…
"Ju Dou" is another one of Zhang Yimou's (here as co-director) relevant movies.
The plot is somewhat straightforward and is boosted by a very strong narrative. No real surprises on this one but it's compelling, effective and (at times) engaging (I thought the pacing was a bit slow, at times).
Great, very strong acting, mainly from the legendary Gong Li and Li Baotian, who pretty much carried this one between them.
There's also some (as usual) colour themes, neat cinematography and social depiction of China (and its traditions), at the time.
It's very noteworthy that with its few characters and "limited" locations (which are very well used, one must say), the movie achieves such a strong and significant narrative/tale.
I thought the ending was very well accomplished and somewhat fitting to the story.
Overall, another strong "outing" from Zhang Yimou, with a very solid movie in pretty much all aspects.
