Themes: Infidelity, Crumbling Marriages, Down on Their Luck
Main Cast: Gong Li, Li Baotian, Li Wei, Zhang Yi, Zheng Jian
Release Year: 1990
Country: CN/JP
Run Time: 98 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A dark, sensual, and visually sumptuous drama, Ju Dou centers on the title character, the third wife of a wealthy silk dyer in 1920s China. Forced into marriage by poverty, Ju Dou is repeatedly mistreated and cruelly disciplined by her husband, Jin-shan, for failing to bear him an heir. Her suffering attracts the sympathy of Jin-shan's younger, kinder nephew, Tian-qing, and the two begin a secret affair that could have tragic consequences. Spanning the course of many years, the film's narrative takes several surprising turns, defying expectations and complicating audience sympathies. None of the film's characters is wholly heroic or evil, allowing all three central performers -- Li Bao-tian as Tian-qing, Li Wei as Jin-shan, and the luminous Gong Li as Ju Dou -- to fashion memorable, complex portrayals. Director Zhang Yimou, a former cinematographer, uses gorgeously saturated images that emphasize his story's elemental nature, which often recalls classical tragedy. Met with controversy in China due to supposed political overtones that worried government officials, Ju Dou received fairer treatment overseas, winning an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and numerous festival prizes. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Review
Sumptuously photographed yet coolly fatalistic, Ju Dou was banned in its native China while wowing critics abroad with its strikingly erotic content and remarkably direct political subtext. It was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film and established the careers of director Zhang Yimou and actress Gong Li. Made in the immediate aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989, the film brilliantly allegorizes the cycle of violence beget by feudalism and revolution in 20th-century China. Set during the 1920s (before the Communists came to power), the story focuses on a love triangle among Jin-shan, an old, cruel silk dyer; his young third wife, Ju Dou (he beat the other two to death); and the old man's nephew, Tian-qing, who is too poor to marry. Fueled by the overwhelming weight of tradition and his own sexual impotence, Jin-shan initially comes across as a miserly and sadistic monster who showers invective on his nephew and tortures his wife for not bringing him an heir. Yet Ju Dou's and Tian-qing's eventual rebellion is anything but noble. After Jin-shan is crippled, they flagrantly continue their illicit affair, transgressing the rigid hierarchy of tradition. They taunt Jin-shan, as he quietly stews in helpless fury. When the resulting child grows to be a psychotic and violent terror, Zhang's meaning becomes mercilessly clear: you reap what you sow. Dark and unsettling, Ju Dou is a harrowing, sensual tale by a filmmaker reaching the peak of his abilities. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
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 her bruises 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. Although disoriented and short of oxygen, it seems as if Tianqing will get out. However, Tianbai clubs him with a heavy stick and knocks him unconscious, resulting in Tianqing drowning. Ju Dou then burns the mill down, and watches as the flames engulf the rolls of silk around her as the film ends.
Ju Dou was initially released on DVD in the United States as an all-region disc on the Pioneer label, Geneon Entertainment, on June 29, 1999. The disc included English subtitles.
The film was re-released by Razor Digital Entertainment on February 14, 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 was Region 1 and included English, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese subtitles.
