--- title: "Raise the Red Lantern: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/raise-the-red-lantern/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/raise-the-red-lantern" critics_score: 79 critics_reviews: 11 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Raise the Red Lantern (1991): what the critics said Critics' score 79 from 11 reviews: 9 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics admire it, and nearly all of them start with the look. The praise clusters on Zhang Yimou’s colour and framing: the bold reds, the still, symmetrical compositions, the lantern-lighting rituals, and a household shot so tightly that the film feels sealed. Gong Li’s performance is named in almost every review as the reason the thing holds together. Many read it as a political allegory, about the treatment of women first and feudal power in China second. The spread is wide, from full marks to the middle. The reservations cluster on familiarity. Time Out finds Zhang revisiting the ground of his earlier films and doing it less imaginatively; The New Yorker asks whether a film can be too beautiful and misses the emotional force of Ju Dou. Radio Times, though warm, also ranks it below that film. Roger Ebert and The New York Times, both approving, treat it as absorbing melodrama rather than tragedy. ## Radio Times — David Parkinson Rating 5/5. Although a lesser film than Ju Dou, this is still one of the jewels of Chinese cinema in the 1990s. Zhang Yimou fashions a compelling and at times erotic story about the repression of women in 1920s China through exceptional use of bright colour, symbolic compositions, stylised sets and rural landscape, with standout performances from Gong Li and He Caifei. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-n8eizm/raise-the-red-lantern/) ## Empire — David Parkinson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The film is a haunting, beautiful study of repression and women's subjugation in a feudal Chinese household, with Zhang's aesthetic subtlety and Gong Li's performance making it compelling and courageous. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/raise-red-lantern-review/) ## Evening Standard — Derek Malcom Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 5 April 2012. The film had a startling international impact as a claustrophobic, richly beautiful political allegory and romantic tragedy set in 1920s China; Gong Li's presence is essential to its success. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/raise-the-red-lantern-7381652.html) ## Los Angeles Times — Kevin Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 13 March 1992. Zhang Yimou delivers a calmly shattering portrait of systematic oppression of women in a 1920s noble household, with astonishing beauty and terror that evokes Greek or Shakespearean tragedy. The formal visuals and color use powerfully underscore the rigid rules and power plays among the wives. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-13-ca-3749-story.html) ## The Guardian — Derek Malcolm Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 30 March 2000. The critic calls the film marvellously structured, richly imagined and well-acted, with a central performance that holds attention throughout, and deems it Yimou's most resonant and perhaps most lavish work. He singles out the rich colours, claustrophobic atmosphere and the way the film captures the scent of sex, jealousy and impending disaster through Gong Li's preparation for the marital bed. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/30/derekmalcolmscenturyoffilm.china7) ## Slant Magazine — Steven Boone Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 3 March 2007. The critic praises Zhang Yimou's sober, still visual style that heightens the melodrama and socio-historical resonance of a young woman's entrapment as a concubine. He singles out the economical static compositions, the first close-up of Gong Li, and the lantern-lighting rituals as creating a claustrophobic indictment of feudal society. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/flavor-of-love-zhang-yimous-raise-the-red-lantern/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 27 March 1992. The film draws viewers into the sealed, hothouse world of a rich man's household where four wives compete for favor through rituals and intrigues. It works as absorbing melodrama while highlighting the cruelty beneath the opulent visuals and performances, especially Gong Li's. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/raise-the-red-lantern-1992) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 20 March 1992. The story focuses on the women trapped in a feudal household's rigid rituals and power struggles after a new educated wife arrives. It is a beautifully crafted drama with the verve of a soap opera that raises consciousness about their constrained lives. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/20/movies/review-film-dissension-in-the-ranks-of-a-household-s-4-wives.html) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 55/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The film elicits a strong sense of déjà vu as it revisits themes from Zhang's earlier works of a young woman struggling in an oppressive patriarchal society. The lavish schematic colours hold considerable appeal, the atypical symmetry and stillness of the compositions stress the strait-jacket mores of a stagnant feudal culture, and the acting is excellent, but one can't help but feel that Zhang has said it all before and more imaginatively. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/raise-the-red-lantern) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 5 March 2007. The critic questions whether a film can be too beautiful while discussing the revival of Zhang Yimou’s 1991 drama about a fourth wife ensnared in household rivalries. It lacks the emotional vigor of 'Ju Dou' yet stands out for its bold color palette and lingering political provocation. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/12/his-favorite-wife) ## Eye for Film — Amber Wilkinson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 12 March 2007. Festival review. The critic calls it Zhang Yimou’s master work for its beautiful look, haunting themes and sublime performances. They highlight the complex female characters and the film’s dual indictment of the treatment of women and broader political systems in China. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/raise-the-red-lantern-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/raise-the-red-lantern.md