• Rating:
• Genre: Comedy Drama
• Movie Type: Rural Drama, Satire
• Themes: Fighting the System, Righting the Wronged
• Director: Zhang Yimou
• Main Cast: Gong Li, Ge Zhijun, Liu Peiqi
• Release Year: 1992
• Country: CN/HK
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• MPAA Rating: PG

Plot

With The Story of Qiu Ju, internationally acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou shifts his attention from powerful historical dramas (Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou) to contemporary life. Gong Li plays the titular heroine, an average woman in a rural village whose life is unexceptional until her husband is physically attacked by the village elder. When the elder refuses to apologize, Qiu Ju decides to seek legal action with the help of a local magistrate. Soon, her quest for simple justice balloons into a series of frustrating battles with a complicated and unproductive bureaucracy. In contrast to the rich, painterly look of his previous films, Zhang adopts an unadorned, realistic style that allows the film's increasingly absurd situations to speak for themselves. Indeed, while the look at government gone wrong has serious underpinnings, the overall tone remains one of understated satire. As might be expected, The Story of Qiu Ju was received with greater appreciation by international critics than in its home country. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Review

A rare comedy from the director of such fare as Red Sorghum and Raise the Red Lantern, Zhang Yimou's gentle satire on bureaucratic inefficiency provides a fascinating glimpse into the daily life of the Chinese. The story concerns a pregnant woman (Gong Li) who seeks legal redress after her husband (Liu Pei Qi) is kicked in the groin by the village political leader (Lei Lao Sheng). Her persistent pursuit of an apology reveals the indifference of a bureaucracy reminiscent of the obtuse mandarin systems of the past. While acknowledging the comic aspect of the stubborn woman's Sisyphean quest, the director admires her grit. Often, her quiet stoicism brings to mind the aged salary man of Kurosawa's classic Ikiru. The film might be regarded as too slow moving or un-dramatic by Western eyes, but Yimou's purpose in the film seems to be, in part, documentary-based. He wants to give outsiders a sense of how much more grindingly difficult everything is in China. Li is superb in a less glamorous role than one is used to seeing her play, and the rest of the actors are never less than professional. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Gong Li - Wan Qiu Ju
• Ge Zhijun
• Liu Peiqi

Lin Zi

Credit

Zhao Jiping - Composer (Music Score); Cao Jiuping - Art Director; Zhang Yimou - Director; Liu Heng - Screenwriter; Liu Heng - Screenwriter; Ma Fung-kwok - Producer; Chen Yuanbin - Book Author

Similar Movies

Raise the Red Lantern; A Taxing Woman; Yellow Earth; Ucho; Ermo; The Women from the Lake of Scented Souls; Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl