Da hong denglong gao gao gua

China, Hongkong, Taiwan, 1991

Chinese with Czech and English subtitles

Director: Zhang Yimou

Starring: Gong Li, Ma Jingwu, He Saifei

Distributor: Films Sans Frontières

Based on: Su Tong – Wives and Concubines

At the beggining of the 20th century, young student Songlian (Gong Li) becomes a concubine in the Chen family palace. She soon discovers that, between the cold walls of this luxurious place, concubines ferociously battle each other and omnipresent intrigue conspires to complicate Songlian’s life.

The grand Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou (Hero, 2002) creates a complicated web of hierarchized social relations in the empty hearts of luxurious walls. Based on Su Tong’s novel Wives and Concubines, this screen version engages in a sophisticated dialogue with the source material in order to expose the artificiality and hypocrisy of the opulent residency, which is more mysterious than it seems.