"High Red Lanterns" was directed by Zhang Yimou in 1991. I thought it was a film as festive as its name, but I didn't expect it to be a depressing tragedy, the tragic life of concubines and maids. It was an elegy for the underprivileged women of that era, and from another point of view, the title was even more ironic and blatantly sharp.
The shooting environment of the whole film is very simple, and all the stories take place in the Chen family's courtyard, but even so, the director used a variety of different cameras and lenses in a single environment, showing us the Chen family in a delicate way. The life picture scroll of the hospital, and the delicate emotion flows in the picture scroll.
The tones of the film are extremely extreme, with alternating red, white and blue tones. Big red is a traditional Chinese color, which represents joy and peace, but in this film, red is bound and oppressed by the male chauvinism of that era. Red decorative stickers are everywhere, but this also means that Song Lian is about to be bound by the master and oppressed by the master; white originally represented purity and cleanliness, but in this film, white was enveloped in a death atmosphere, The world is scorching hot, and it has become the stage for the death of the third wife, Mei Shan and Yan'er. Song Lian's original independent soul has also disappeared in this vast expanse of white, so desolate; the blue is even more extreme, the Chen family under the shroud of night. The compound is blue. From a distance, it looks like a man-eating beast and a heavily guarded prison. The concubines inside are prisoners held in this huge prison, even if the red lanterns are lit. , the lanterns are always locked and sealed by the blue brick wall, and then the theme of the film is revealed. The so-called red, the so-called festive, is actually bound by the backward feudal ideology, bounding the body and soul. After all, oppressed women cannot escape their tragic fate.
The film uses a lot of overhead shots and overhead shots. The closed composition formed by the large overhead camera positions is connected to the eaves, so that the audience can feel the closure of this Chen family compound, and the overhead camera positions allow the audience to only see A small piece of gray sky, surrounded by the towering gray and white walls of the Chen family compound, made the film feel like it was about to be suffocated.
The film uses a symphonic suite processed by Chinese composer Zhao Jiping and Japanese arranger Muda Junzhi from Peking Opera Xipi Liushui. The vocal part is sung by the Central Chinese Orchestra. This symphonic suite is composed of several girls sang a song without words and an orchestra. Composed of music and Peking Opera percussion, the artistry of this film has been sublimated because it is different from the unconventional music combination of most films. The beginning of the film is the rapid percussion of Peking Opera, which creates a strong historical atmosphere. The rhythmic gongs and drums play in unison, and it is easy to substitute the audience's thoughts into the film. In addition, the sound of "hammer feet", the old rule of Chen's compound in the film, was also used as the soundtrack by the director. Whenever a certain wife's yard lights up, the sound of hammer feet will always spread throughout the compound. The wife and even the maid Yan'er would always feel craving for not having a hammer, which intensified the conflicts among the wives and made the wives more willing to fight for Master Chen's jealousy, thus consolidating the authoritarian status of Master Chen.
The whole film uses a lot of symbolism. From the summer when Song Lian married into the Chen family, to the summer when the fifth wife married into the Chen family in the second year, there was no spring season. The director relied on the reincarnation of the four seasons to tell the audience that this The women in the house have no spring, they will never wait for the spring when life is full of life and all things are revived, they lose their souls, and every day they only hope that the red flames can be lit in their rooms, and use the glowing red lanterns as make your own spring.
These women were trapped in a yard made of bricks and stones. Even if they played cards in the other party's yard, they would be scolded by the master for not treating them well. Song Lian said, "In this yard, people are nothing like cats. Dogs are like mice, but they are not like people.” Perhaps the only way to relieve these women who live in cool colors under the warm-colored lanterns is death.
The third wife Mei Shan was thrown into the dead man's house on the roof, and this is also the place where the "two women from the previous life" died in the mouth of the master. Perhaps these "two women from the previous life" wanted to be free like the third wife Mei Shan. Master Chen's father's concubine, it seems that this cannibalistic feudal etiquette will only continue to develop downward. Who knows that one day, the eldest young master who used to be ambiguous with the fourth wife Song Lian will become The current Mr. Chen? The answer is yes, but what a pity the new ladies. Day after day, year after year, they have not happy beginnings, but tragic endings.
The ending of the film is very visually impactful and very shocking. In the snowy night, the red lantern hangs high, and the towering wall surrounds the crazy wandering Songlian, and the word "prisoner" is alive, but in the snowy night, I don't know how many years the red lantern will be lit. How many women's lives will become cold-colored lives under the warm-colored lanterns.
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