Former cinematographer, Zhang Yimou, directed this 1990 Shakespearean masterpiece that follows Ju Dou's (played by a very young Gong Li) trials and tribulations as the wife of a brutal dye mill owner in the middle-of-nowhere rural China. Beaten for not producing an heir, Ju Dou takes solace in the arms of the mill owner's nephew, Yang Tian-qing (played by Bao-Tian Li). The result of this affair is a son, whom Ju Dou must raise while pretending the young lad is the mill owner's. Predictably, familial tension, cultural tradition, and the twists and turns of simple human passions result in several tragedies. Zhang films the family's fall into fate slowly and stunningly. At its heart, this film is so much bigger than its subject and characters and as such, it is a crowning achievement ... capturing the sadness a child born in such circumstances can reap on an entire family.
My rating 9 out of 10.
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