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Ju Dou Movie Review

Ju Dou is a 1990 Chinese romantic drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. It is a somewhat effective, but strange early film for this great director.

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“I bought you. Now obey me“

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A woman married to the brutal and infertile owner of a dye mill in rural China conceives a boy with her husband’s nephew but is forced to raise her son as her husband’s heir without revealing his parentage in this circular tragedy. My main issue with this film is the son character. He was so brutal and horrifying that he felt unrealistic to me. Who would commit such an atrocious act in the final sequence against his loved ones?

I found that plot development difficult to believe. The whole film has that air of nastiness in its characters, which is somewhat believable given the early 20^th century time period and rural China as a setting, but still it was a bit too cold and alienating in its tone.

Where the movie excelled is in the main romance, which was wonderful. The two main characters were quite memorable and very well acted with the standout being Gong Li. She was a revelation in these early Yimou movies and here she was simply terrific. The romantic scenes were both very moving and also inherently sad given that the movie is basically a tragedy.

And that is the other thing that I loved about it – its old-fashioned approach at storytelling. Had they gotten rid of the unnecessary violence, it would have perfectly stood as a film made in the early 20^th century as well. Not only is that melodramatic tone very traditional, but so is the film’s look.

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Yes, Ju Dou was actually filmed in Technicolor, which happened long after the US had abandoned that practice. The result is this gorgeous color on the textures that made the movie even more emotional. The strong red hue symbolized fire, life and happiness, which made the eventual conclusion even more tragic. Admittedly, the film isn’t as epic in the technical aspects as Yimou’s next features will be, but this was still an effective, promising start for him.

Ju Dou is an early Zhang Yimou film that’s far from his best efforts, though it does benefit from a rare use of Technicolor so late in the century and a wonderfully old-fashioned approach at storytelling. It’s a traditional tragedy that is quite touching, but the cruelty of the third act was misplaced and difficult to believe, ending the story in an overly nasty manner.

My Rating – 3.5