Li, Gong, Yimou, Zhang	...	(Director)
Su Tong, Ni Zhen	...	(Writer)
Li Gong	...	Songlian
Saifei He	...	Meishan (Third Wife)
Cuifen Cao	...	Zhuoyan (Second Wife)
Jingwu Ma	...	The Master
Qi Zhao	...	Housekeeper
Lin Kong	...	Yan'er
Shuyuan Jin	...	Yuru (First Wife)
Weimin Ding	...	Songlian's mother
Zhengyin Cao	...	Old servant
Zhihgang Cui	...	Dr. Gao
Chu Xiao	...	Feipu

Comments: DCH 139

Summary: Zhang Yimou (Ju Dou) directed this fascinating, visually formal 1991 film about an educated woman (Gong Li) who is sent off to become the newest wife of a feudal nobleman in 1920s China. Nearly isolated in his spooky, palatial home, she develops relationships with several of the other wives and slowly becomes aware of a hideous legacy of punishment toward more willful women. The film has a brittle and dry quality that is deliberate, but also suggestive of Zhang working through various explorations of his own style (which he resolved in his next film, The Story of Qiu Ju). Gong Li, one of the world's great actresses, is superb. --Tom Keogh