Ju Dou (1989) is a film for which I have the utmost respect but very little stomach. A man has to know his limitations and one of mine is that a film can only have so much cruelty and depressing circumstances before it becomes more of a painful experience for me rather than an entertaining or rewarding one. Ju Dou was a courageous film by the then young maverick Chinese director, Yimou Zhang. It has a strong script, magnificent cinematography, excellent performances, and strong thematic content – yet, I won't be in any hurry to watch it again. It's just too emotionally downbeat and devastating for my fragile psyche!

Historical Background: Zhang Yimou received his film training at the Beijing Film Academy, graduating with the first class to complete studies after the reopening of the Academy following the Cultural Revolution. He was soon identified with an emerging group of young Chinese filmmakers who were dubbed the "Fifth Generation." The Fifth Generation directors sought to emphasize visual and aural aspects of cinema instead of mainly traditional Chinese stories and values, which had characterized Chinese films up to that point. Red Sorghum (1987) was the first international success for either Zhang or the group of Fifth Generation directors. Zhang and the others had to labor under stringent censorship as they attempted to make films with international quality and interest.

Ju Dou (1989) was the third of Zhang's seven collaborations with the brilliant Chinese actress Gong Li, who was also his lover from 1987-1995. Zhang won the Best Director award at Cannes for this film as well as a Golden Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival, but the unimpressed Chinese officials moved quickly to ban the film in China. It may have been the implicit jab at impotent old men in a highly abusive and patriarchal society that offended the officials. It may have been the depiction of a Chinese woman committing adultery and resisting her husband's authority. Or, it may have been the open treatment of lust and sexuality or that Gong Li revealed more flesh in this film than the Chinese were accustomed to seeing on screen. Whatever the motivation, the Chinese government was so offended by the picture that they launched an official protest when Ju Dou was included among the nominations for Best Foreign Film at the American Academy Awards and tried to have it withdrawn.

The Story: The wealthy old owner of a cloth-dyeing factory, Jinshan (Li Wei), purchases a lovely young wife, Ju Dou (Gong Li), which is how these things happened in China, circa 1920. Jinshan is miserly, impotent, and sadistic. He has already beaten to death his two previous wives because they had failed to bear him the son that he so ardently desired. When Ju Dou fails to become pregnant, she is tortured as well.

The only employee in the factory is Tianqing (Li Baotian), a distant nephew of Jinshan, but in no way his social equal. Jinshan treats him pretty much like a slave, berating him regularly. At night, Tianqing lies awake listening to the cries of Ju Dou as she is tormented. Tianqing is a bachelor, being far too poor to purchase or support a wife. Tianqing's hormones are stimulated by the presence of the comely Ju Dou, but the Chinese society of the time was highly intolerant of illicit romance. In fact, it was punishable by death. Tianqing takes advantage of a peep hole to watch Ju Dou as she bathes. When she discovers his indiscretion, she is initially mortified but soon recognizes the opportunity to gain an ally. She allows him to see the scars from her torment by the old man and, later, tantalizes him with glimpses of her beautiful body. Tianqing is willingly seduced and when the old man is away, the young pair become lovers.

When Ju Dou subsequently becomes pregnant, she and Tianqing realize the vital necessity of permitting Jinshan to believe that the child is his own. Soon after the child's birth, Jinshan is severely injured in an accident and is crippled from the waist down. He has to resort to getting around on the base of a barrel rigged up with wheels, like a primitive wheel chair. As he becomes increasingly dependent on Ju Dou and Tianqing and less of a threat, their bitterness toward him surfaces. The young lovers gradually begin to flaunt their illicit relationship in front of him. The old man comes to hate the two lovers as well as the child, Tianbai (Zheng Jian), which he now realizes is not his biologically, even if it is his legally.

Tianbai learns to speak his first word, "Daddy," which is directed toward Jinshan, not Tianqing. Instantly, Jinshan recognizes an opportunity to effect his revenge. He starts to take an active interest in Tianbai, raising him as a mirror of himself. Tianbai grows up believing that the old man, Jinshan, is his father. He also learns to believe in his entitlement to status and respect as the son of a factory owner. Tianqing, he believes, is his social inferior. When he is taunted by other children in the village about the possibility that his mother is having an illicit affair with Tianqing, he grows to hate the man he believes to be his father's rival. The stage is now set for a dramatically tragic finale with Oedipal overtones.

Themes: There are multiple themes evident in Ju Dou. First among them is the abuse of women that has been an aspect of most human societies worldwide for thousands of years, but perhaps more than averagely evident in Asian cultures. This is a film that should raise the hackles of not only feminists but also anyone else with a shred of human decency. When Ju Dou attempts to fight back, to an extent, for freedom from a life of outright torture that will predictably end in her death, she is beaten down by the social restrictions of Chinese culture.

A second theme of this film is the relative importance of nature versus nurture in determining personality and values. This film effectively opts for the nurture side of the argument. Tianbai, as he matures, assumes the characteristics of his despicably sadistic father-of-record rather than the more sympathetic qualities of his biological father. Brought up in the belief of social superiority and entitlement to privilege, most people will adhere to those values simply because that value system provides them with considerable personal advantage. Zhang is suggesting that a child's destiny is determined, in large part, by the value system and social standing into which it is integrated.

One can readily interpret Ju Dou also as sociopolitical allegory, commenting on the patriarchal nature of modern Chinese society. Although the explicit target of Zhang's criticism is pre-revolutionary China, repression of women and patriarchal privilege continues to exist in modern China, even if the extent of it has abated a bit since the Cultural Revolution. Overall, Ju Dou is an unflattering portrait of life in China, which was probably part of the reason why the Chinese authorities hoped to restrict its international distribution.

If there is an upbeat theme in Ju Dou, it is the power of romantic love to generate hope and support in the most difficult of circumstances. Western viewers find themselves rooting for the survival of the burgeoning romance between Ju Dou and Tianqing, regardless of its illicit nature, given how little joy and how much torment each has been allotted by a cruel system.

Production Values: The script provides a story with high emotional charge – a bit too high for me, as I stated in my opening comments. This is powerfully tragic material of Shakespearean proportions. One beauty of this film is that the story is told more visually than through dialog or facial close-ups. Three of the four main characters are rather reticent individuals. There is precious little humor in this film, meaning that viewers, like myself, who are disconcerted by the extent of the portrayals of spousal abuse, get little in the way of relief.

When the Technicolor company in American abandoned the old three-strip color process in favor of the less elaborate and expensive but also less vivid photographic system now in vogue in Hollywood, the equipment from one of the three old Technicolor factories was sold to China. As a result, films like Red Sorghum and Ju Dou have a richness of color that hasn't been seen in American films for years. Zheng and his cinematographer, took every advantage of this strength in designing Ju Dou. Set in a dye factory with brightly colored vats of dye and brilliantly colored bolts of cloth hanging about, Ju Dou is a visual masterpiece. The brilliant red and yellow hues heighten the sense of passionate emotions – the love, jealousy, bitterness, and rage – of the characters. A viewer can't help but notice the stark contrast between the sordid emotions and the beautifully colored backdrop.

The performances are very impressive, most notably Gong Li, followed by Li Baotian as Tianqing. Zhang was also able to elicit impressive performances from the two children who played Tianbai at two stages of his life. Li Baotian later worked for Zhang in Shanghai Triad (1995). Gong Li's truly heady resume already includes Red Sorghum (1987), Raise the Red Lantern (1991), The Story of Qiu Ju (1992), Farewell My Concubine (1993), To Live (1994), Shanghai Triad (1995), Temptress Moon (1996), and The Emperor and the Assassin (1999).

Bottom-Line: One of Zhang's special talents is the ability to create moving character studies in the context of period epics. This is a masterful film from the point of view of sheer artistry, but be warned that the film contains a distressing level of violence, including torture and spousal abuse, manslaughter, and arson. Although I'm going to check off "Yes" to the "Recommend to a friend?" question, the truth is that I would recommend this film only to certain friends – those I believe to be somewhat "thick-skinned." Ju Dou is in Mandarin with English subtitles and has a running time of 95 minutes.

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age