In ten or twenty years, Zhang Yimou will be regarded as one of the greatest foreign directors. I think his film Raise the Red Lantern is one of the greatest films ever made, easily. Ju Dou is just one step below it.
Its positive points are too numerous to mention in any great detail. Just let me warn you that, like almost every movie ever put on video, this film's video/DVD box lies horrendously about what you're about to experience. Ju Dou is not a passionate story of forbidden love. It is not Romeo and Juliette, and you're not going to desire to watch it every Valentine's Day. It is not erotic, but brutal. It is an utterly complex film which is consistently challenging.
SPOILERS AHEAD
The film starts off pretty conventionally with a mean old man purchasing a young wife in the hopes of producing a son with her. He spends several days beating her into submission. During this period, the old man's nephew, who is treated horribly by his uncle, begins to obsess over his new aunt's beauty. The aunt notices his obsession, and welcomes him as a sort of savior from the cruelty of her husband. We expect a plot where these two find a way to escape their common nemesis, or maybe even kill him. He seems like any other villain to us. The nephew and his aunt produce a child, which is passed off as the old man's. Soon after this, the old man is in an accident and is paralyzed below the waste.
Now the young couple has their common tormentor at their mercy, and they use that to their full advantage with horrifying physical and mental torture. They almost instantly tell him that his son is actually the son of his nephew. They build him a tub with wheels (the Chinese version of a wheelchair), and when he misbehaves, they suspend him from the ceiling. This behavior confuses us deeply. What would we do in a similar situation? Maybe the same thing. But when we see it done, we cannot help but be horrified. Cruelty has begotten cruelty, and everything is spinning out of control.
Meanwhile, the young child ages. He has not talked yet, and silently and painfully watches as his mother and cousin cavort, not hiding their lust in the least (it does turn from passion to lust very quickly). The child does not feel that these two have any feelings for him, so he connects to the old man, whom he believes is his father. In fact, his first word comes when the old man is plotting to murder him: "Daddy," spoken to the old man. The old man is ecstatic, not so much because his "son" has just spoken as because he knows the implications of the child knowing him as his father instead of his cousin.
I won't go any further, but this film becomes more painful by the second.
My complaints need to be voiced, too. They are few, but key. First, I think that the first half hour or so should have been fleshed out a bit. The relationships and even the characters could have stood to be more developed earlier on. I do not like how Yimou uses slow motion in this film. It does not feel right. My final complaint is with the very end of the film. It is a bit of a cop out, to end the story by burning the house down. I think the only problem in Raise the Red Lantern was also the very end, where Gong Li's character just goes insane. I think it is better to know that the character exists and will have to live with his/her mistakes forever. That is much more powerful, and a better ending. Anyhow, this film is a 9/10.
Its positive points are too numerous to mention in any great detail. Just let me warn you that, like almost every movie ever put on video, this film's video/DVD box lies horrendously about what you're about to experience. Ju Dou is not a passionate story of forbidden love. It is not Romeo and Juliette, and you're not going to desire to watch it every Valentine's Day. It is not erotic, but brutal. It is an utterly complex film which is consistently challenging.
SPOILERS AHEAD
The film starts off pretty conventionally with a mean old man purchasing a young wife in the hopes of producing a son with her. He spends several days beating her into submission. During this period, the old man's nephew, who is treated horribly by his uncle, begins to obsess over his new aunt's beauty. The aunt notices his obsession, and welcomes him as a sort of savior from the cruelty of her husband. We expect a plot where these two find a way to escape their common nemesis, or maybe even kill him. He seems like any other villain to us. The nephew and his aunt produce a child, which is passed off as the old man's. Soon after this, the old man is in an accident and is paralyzed below the waste.
Now the young couple has their common tormentor at their mercy, and they use that to their full advantage with horrifying physical and mental torture. They almost instantly tell him that his son is actually the son of his nephew. They build him a tub with wheels (the Chinese version of a wheelchair), and when he misbehaves, they suspend him from the ceiling. This behavior confuses us deeply. What would we do in a similar situation? Maybe the same thing. But when we see it done, we cannot help but be horrified. Cruelty has begotten cruelty, and everything is spinning out of control.
Meanwhile, the young child ages. He has not talked yet, and silently and painfully watches as his mother and cousin cavort, not hiding their lust in the least (it does turn from passion to lust very quickly). The child does not feel that these two have any feelings for him, so he connects to the old man, whom he believes is his father. In fact, his first word comes when the old man is plotting to murder him: "Daddy," spoken to the old man. The old man is ecstatic, not so much because his "son" has just spoken as because he knows the implications of the child knowing him as his father instead of his cousin.
I won't go any further, but this film becomes more painful by the second.
My complaints need to be voiced, too. They are few, but key. First, I think that the first half hour or so should have been fleshed out a bit. The relationships and even the characters could have stood to be more developed earlier on. I do not like how Yimou uses slow motion in this film. It does not feel right. My final complaint is with the very end of the film. It is a bit of a cop out, to end the story by burning the house down. I think the only problem in Raise the Red Lantern was also the very end, where Gong Li's character just goes insane. I think it is better to know that the character exists and will have to live with his/her mistakes forever. That is much more powerful, and a better ending. Anyhow, this film is a 9/10.