Ju Dou

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Ju Dou
Directed by Zhang Yimou
Yang Fengliang
Produced by Hu Jian
Yasuyoshi Tokuma
Zhang Wenze
Written by Liu Heng
Starring Gong Li
Li Baotian
Li Wei
Music by Xia Ru-jin
Zhao Jiping
Cinematography Gu Changwei
Yang Lun
Editing by Du Yuan
Distributed by United States:
Miramax Films
Release date(s) Toronto:
September 7, 1990
United States:
March 6, 1991
Running time 95 min
Country China
Language Mandarin
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Ju Dou (Chinese: 菊豆; pinyin: Jú Dòu) is a 1991 Chinese film directed by Zhang Yimou and Yang Fengliang (though it is almost universally considered to be a product of Zhang's vision as director) and starring Gong Li as the title character. It is notable for being shot in vivid Technicolor long after the process had been abandoned in the United States.[1][2] It was also the first Chinese film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, in 1990.[3]

The film is a tragedy, focusing on the characters of Ju Dou, a beautiful young woman who has been sold as a wife to Jinshan, an old cloth dyer.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Ju Dou takes place in the early 20th century in rural China. The story begins as Yang Tianqing (the regular Zhang collaborator Li Baotian) returning from a trek to sell silk for his adoptive uncle, Yang Jinshan (Li Wei). Jinshan is known for his cruelty and treats Tianqing with much scorn. Upon returning Tianqing learns that Jinshan has just recently purchased a new wife, having beaten two previous wives to death after they failed to produce a son. The cruel irony being that Jinshan is in fact impotent.

Upon meeting the wife, Ju Dou (Gong Li), Tianqing is immediately enamored with her. During the day they act with some detachment from one another, both living in fear of Jinshan. At night, Jinshan tortures Ju Dou, as Tianqing is forced to listen to her cries. Eventually, Tianqing discovers Ju Dou's bathing area, and spies on her. When she discovers the peephole, she is at first concerned, but eventually uses the hole to expose herself to him. Soon, the two are unable to control their passions any longer, and they make love next to the dye vats. When Ju Dou discovers she is pregnant, she and Tianqing carry on the facade that the child is in fact Jinshan's. The child, Tianbai is soon born and carries on Jinshan's and not Tianqing's name.

At this point, however, Jinshan suffers a stroke which leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. Confined to a wheel chair, he nevertheless discovers Ju Dou and Tianqing's affair and attempts to kill the child. Stopped by the parents, Jinshan's past cruelty is repaid upon him as he is hoisted in a large barrel, leaving him dangling helplessly during the night. Despite their happiness, Tianqing and Ju Dou suffer another setback when Ju Dou discovers that she is yet again pregnant. Knowing that society would know and could never accept her infidelities, Ju Dou takes poison to abort the child. Though the abortion succeeds, she is left barren.

Meanwhile Tianbai has grown into a sullen child (Yi Zhang). He has yet to speak and both Ju Dou and Tianqing worry about him. Jin Shan meanwhile is still left in his barrel, when he sees the child, he at first attempts to push him into the dye vat, but when Tianbai calls him "Father" his heart immediately melts and he accepts the boy as his son. While Ju Dou and Tianqing are horrified, they know they can say nothing. Jinshan's happiness is short-lived, however, as he himself falls into the dye vat and drowns one day while playing with his "son." The funeral is treated with a much pomp and circumstance as Confucian dogma requires both Ju Dou and Tianqing to "beg" the casket not to leave. Ju Dou, moreover, is never allowed to be with another man.

The film then cuts ten years later. Ju Dou and Tianqing still run the dye vat, but Tianbai (now played by Zheng Ji'an) is now a rage-filled teenager. Rumors of his parents' infidelities drives him to almost kill a local gossip. Upon discovering his parents after one of their trysts passed out in an underground cellar, Tianbai drags them into the open before throwing his father into a vat. Disoriented and short of oxygen, Tianqing drowns. Ju Dou then burns the mill down, and watches as the flames engulf the rolls of silk around her as the film ends.

[edit] Cast

  • Gong Li, as Ju Dou;
  • Li Baotian, as Yang Tianqing, Ju Dou's lover and Yang Jinshan's adopted nephew;
  • Li Wei, as Yang Jinshan, the owner of the dye mill and Ju Dou's husband;
  • Yi Zhang, as Tianbai as a child; Ju Dou and Tianqing's son;
  • Zheng Ji'an, as Tianbai as a youth.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Awards

[edit] DVD release

Ju Dou was initially released on DVD in the United States as an all-region disc on the Pioneer label, Geneon Entertainment, on June, 29th, 1999. The disc included English subtitles.

The film was re-released by Razor Digital Entertainment on Feb. 14th, 2006 as part of the new Zhang Yimou collection to capitalize on Zhang's recent international successes of Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The new edition is Region 1 and includes English, simplified and traditional Chinese character subtitles.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Christopher Bonet. The Glory that is Gong Li. IFC News. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
  2. ^ Roger Ebert (1991-04-12). Ju Dou. The Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
  3. ^ David Neo (September, 2003). Red Sorghum: A Search for Roots. Senses of Cinema. Retrieved on 2007-04-28.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Zhang Yimou
Red Sorghum (1987) • Codename Cougar (1989) • Ju Dou (1990) • Raise the Red Lantern (1991) • The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) • To Live (1994) • Shanghai Triad (1995) • Keep Cool (1997) • The Road Home (1999) • Not One Less (1999) • Happy Times (2000) • Hero (2002) • House of Flying Daggers (2004) • Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005) • Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)
v • d • e
Cinema of China