# Ju Dou (1990)

### reviewed by
Brian Koller

    Ju Dou (1990)

    Grade: 60

Director Zhang Yimou continued the success of his earlier film "Red Sorghum" with "Ju Dou". Both films starred actress Gong Li, and eventually they would make seven films together. Gong Li became China's most well-known actress in the west, while Yimou became the best-known director from China. Probably their best collaboration was 1994's "To Live".

"Ju Dou" is named for Gong Li's character, a beautiful peasant woman who is purchased by textile mill owner Yang (Li Wei). Yang is a middle-aged man obsessed with having a son, so as to continue the family dynasty. But he is impotent, and takes his frustrations out on Ju Dou, as he has done with previous wives. The film is set in China during the 1920s.

Yang has only one worker at his mill. He is Tianqing (Li Baotian), a distant nephew of Yang. Lonely, lifelong bachelor Tianqing quickly falls for Ju Dou, who turns to him as a protector from her viciously abusive husband. Taianqing gives Ju Dou a child, which Yang believes to be his. Yang soon becomes crippled, however, allowing Tianqing and Ju Dou their chance at revenge. The child, Tianbai (Zheng Jian), grows up believing Yang to be his father, and lacks the director's sympathy towards Tianqing's intimacy with Ju Dou.

The script is sparse, with the story largely told by cinematography. The silk tapestries produced by the mill have bright red and yellow colors, and are the subject of endless close-ups, more so than are the actors themselves.

What is the moral of "Ju Dou"? It is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. It seems to condemn the conservative, patrician morality of pre-revolutionary China. It suggests that defying that moral code is not a good idea. Also, don't beat your wife, and don't judge your parents. There may be other messages as well: certainly "Ju Dou" has something to say.

There is a death scene in this film that reminds me of "The Godfather". Remember Don Corleone having a heart attack in the vineyards, with his grandson standing over him and laughing? The similar scene here is revisited again, when Tianbai dumps a passed-out Tianquin into the dye vat.

    "Ju Dou" received an Oscar nomination for Best
    Foreign Language Film.

kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html

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