Song Lian: Song Lian was originally a female college student, but because her mother was greedy for the Chen family's wealth, she married her to the Chen family as the fourth concubine. In the evening, the old servant hammered Songlian's feet and lit red lanterns inside and outside the room, which made this new concubine feel uneasy. Later, she discovered that her worth was to win the favor of the master and squeeze out other wives. Begin to get used to the sound of hammering feet every night, and covet the right to monopolize the master. She competed with the third wife, and later found out that the real ruthless character was the second wife. She wanted revenge, she almost cut off the second wife's ear; she wanted to regain the master's favor, she lied about being pregnant. The paper couldn't wrap the fire, her room was sealed off, she thought it was the maid Yan'er who had informed her, she destroyed Yan'er, and Yan'er unfortunately died of illness. She felt guilty, but there was nothing she could do. She fell in love with the eldest young master, but couldn't keep the love. She got drunk, and inadvertently revealed that the third wife was cheating on the master behind her back. The third wife died because of her.
Third wife: She is an actor, she gave up acting and married into the Chen family. She still acted, played it for the master, and won favor. She couldn't get used to Song Lian's monopoly on the master. Her words were thorny. She had an affair with the doctor out of love, but she couldn't bear the love, because she knew that she was a lark in a cage, and she couldn't escape this cage, escaped, and couldn't live. Only when she sings diligently and yearns for the grace and alms of the master can she get food and live. It doesn't mean anything to live, there are always people who are eyeing her, the second wife will arrest her in bed, she has no choice but to die, which is doomed. Just like an unfaithful dog, the end result is only death.
Second wife: She is always kind and kind. She was the first person who came to comfort her after Songlian married into the Chen residence. She's fine, at least that's what she looks like. But she is also very bad, this bad is written on the paper that stabbed the villain; this bad is written on double-sided, back-stabbing people; this bad is written on the report of the third wife's cheating; she knows that to get the master's favor, she can only minimize it competitor. She wants to monopolize the master, not for love, but for survival.
Eldest Young Master: He is good at playing the flute, and the sound of the flute is like a flower, which attracts Songlian. He fell in love at first sight, and so did she. However, the master took a step earlier and took the lead. He is only far away from Songlian, and far away from love. He often wears a white scarf, sticking to a purity.
Maid Yan'er: She has a dream of being a concubine, but she didn't want to be a concubine. The addition of the fourth wife made her very upset. She spit into the fourth wife's clothes and vented her jealousy. The anger she received from the fourth wife, she has to make up for it at home. She made a villain for the fourth wife and cursed her to death. She found out that the fourth wife was falsely pregnant, and felt that the opportunity for revenge had come. But she is a girl after all. She was treated by the fourth wife for a while, and she was killed by accident.
Master Chen: The footage that Laomouzi gave to Master Chen was always far away and blurry, at most it was just a back view. Because his face is not important, he just represents the status of feudal men, who are gods at home and have the right to dominate women. He can empower women and he can take everything from them. Women show their abilities, singing operas, massage massages, young people fight for beauty, old people fight for sons.
Song Lian said in the play: "In this courtyard, people look like something, like a dog, like a cat, but not like a human being." Feudal tyranny oppresses women, and strict hierarchy enslaves servants.
The language of the shots in the film is extremely beautiful, the extreme red, the extreme white, and the endless black, so black that it makes people creepy and chills down their spines. Framed composition, symmetrical composition, markedly restricted and closed everywhere.
The film begins in the summer, ends in the summer, and begins again and again, but there is no spring. Symbolizing the cycle of feudalism, women are in this closed ring, cycle and cycle, without spring.
Exaggerated theatrical masks, red lanterns everywhere, lit and unlit, distant Beijing operas, the sound of tight hammers, endless snow, every sample can be beautiful, but it makes one’s back chill.
At the end of the film, Songlian is crazy, she is wearing a schoolgirl uniform, she keeps wandering, is she waiting? or something else?
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