History Film / RaiseTheRedLantern

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler: Songlian [[BlatantLies "accidentally"]] happens to cut Zhuoyun's ear when she was helping to cut her hair. This was the reward for all the crap she was putting her through.]]

Songlian soon discovers that this treatment is not regular. Every evening, the four wives (Yuru, Zhouyun, Meishan and Songlian herself) are made to stand before their doors in their shared courtyard while their husband decides who he will sleep with that night, announced by the placing of [[TitleDrop the eponymous red lantern]] in her doorway. That woman alone receives regal treatment, while the others are left alone. Trapped in the largely empty but claustrophobic estate, the four wives are locked in a constant power struggle for Chen's attention.

* BerserkButton: Songlian's presence within the household is this for Yan'er, who was hoping to become a mistress herself. She clearly seethes at the idea of serving her.

* CommonalityConnection: [[spoiler: In their bounding moment, Meishan acknowledges she and Songlian are fellow misfits in an household of proper ladies, since they are a former singer and a former student.]]

* DueToTheDead: Songlian honors [[spoiler: Meishan]] by breaking tradition and lighting ''all'' the lanterns in [[spoiler:Meishan's]] house by herself, and by [[spoiler:playing the recording of Meishan's song]]. It frightens the servants who come to investigate (possibly the same men who [[spoiler: murdered her on the orders of her husband]] to such an extent that they believe they are witnessing a [[spoiler: manifestation of her ghost]].
* EatingLunchAlone: At some point, Songlian orders of having lunch in her own room, since she has no wish of spending time with the other wives.

* FakePregnancy: Songlian fakes a pregnancy to gain power over Master Chen and the other wives. Exposed by the averting of NoPeriodsPeriod.

* GoodOldWays: "''The Chen family's [[NightmareFuel customs]] go back many generations. It is important that you obey them''."
* GreenEyedMonster: Master Chen finds a flute in Songlian's bags and burns it without telling her anything, thinking it was a present from a boy at university. Turns out it had belonged to her late father.

* HeirClubForMen: Giving the master a son is considered the most important duty of a wife, and the key to power and authority within the house. Zhouyun calls her own little daughter useless while the child is sitting next to her.
* HiddenDepths: Meishan is nicer and deeper than she looks.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Zhuoyun]] appears to have won the feud with [[spoiler: Meishan and Songlian]] but take a look at PyrrhicVictory.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler: Songlian [[BlatantLies "accidentally"]] happens to cut Zhouyun's ear when she was helping to cut her hair. This was the reward for all the crap she was putting her through.]]

* LonelyTogether: [[spoiler: Songlian and Meishan start to hanging out with each other most of all out of loneliness, but Meishan acknowledges they are fellow misfits in an household of proper ladies.]]

* MoodKiller: There's a RunningGag with Meishan actively finding ways to interrupt Songlian's moments of intimacy with Master Chen. It gets even funnier when you realize that she does that not just to Songlian, but to Zhouyun as well. Whenever the Master is with Zhouyun, Meishan gets up bright and early to sing at the top of her lungs.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Between Songlian and Feipu.
* UsefulNotes/PekingOpera

* ThePrimadonna: Meishan often acts like one probably because of her past success.
* PyrrhicVictory: It very likely would be the case with [[spoiler: Zhuoyun. While she appears to successfully get rid of Meishan and Songlian, at the end of the film Chen brings a new concubine even younger than Songlian. Zhuoyun is the second oldest after the first wife so it's matter of time before she's cast aside for good.]]

* RedOniBlueOni: The two youngest concubines Meishan and Songlian. Meishan is a brash [[ThePrimadonna primadonna]] and former singer, Songlian is an IceQueen and a former student. They are even pictured in the page image wearing this very colours.

* TheResenter: Yan'er deeply resents Songlian because she represents her dashed hopes to become a mistress. Meishan resents Songlian for being a dangerous competitor in the battle for the privilege of being the favorite wife. Zhouyun resents ''both'' Meishan and Songlian for the same reason.

* SceneryPorn: Despite being the Chinese version of a KitchenSinkDrama (it never goes beyond the Chen household's door) the rare shot of the panorama are incredibly beautiful, featuring the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qiao_Family_Compound Qiao Family Compound]], a real life private palace of traditional Chinese architecture. This is due to Zhang Yimou using Technicolor, which Creator/RogerEbert raved about.

* StepfordSmiler: Zhouyun and Meishan, especially around their husband. They put on a happy face because they are aiming to acquire (or in Meishan's case, keep) the coveted position of favorite wife.

* TragicDream: Yan'er dreams about escaping her life of servitude and becoming a mistress.[[spoiler: Her conflict with Songlian escalates dangerously and the mistress throws out and burns the patched-up red lanterns that Yan'er was hiding in her room. She also essentially forces Yuru to punish Yan'er, and the maid is forced to kneel before the burning remains, and informed that she can only get up when she apologizes. Yan'er refuses to do so, and nobody does anything to help her, so she kneels in the cold until she collapses and eventually dies.]]

* DrowningMySorrows: Songlian does this at one point, with [[InVinoVeritas disastrous consequences]].

[[caption-width-right:330:''Let me be a concubine. Isn't that the fate of a woman?'']]

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raise_the_red_lantern_concubines.jpg]]

->'''Meishan, Third Concubine:''' ''"Good or bad, it's all playacting. If you act well, you can fool other people; if you do it badly, you can only fool yourself, and when you can't even fool yourself, you just can fool the ghosts."''\\
'''Songlian, Fourth Concubine:''' ''"The difference between people and ghosts is only a gasp of air. People are ghouls and ghouls are people."''

* AccidentalPublicConfession: [[spoiler: A drunken Songlian accidentally reveals Meishan's infidelity.]]

''Raise The Red Lantern'' is an award-winning 1991 film directed by Creator/ZhangYimou and starring Creator/GongLi, in the role that brought her to international attention. It is set in the early 1920s, well before the [[UsefulNotes/MaoZedong Communist Party's conquest of the country]].

* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: [[spoiler: Zhuoyun]]. As Meishan [[LampshadeHanging points out]], she has a Buddha’s face, but a scorpion’s heart.

* SceneryPorn: Despite being the Chinese version of a KitchenSinkDrama (it never goes beyond the Chen household's door) the rare shot of the panorama are incredibly beautiful, featuring the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qiao_Family_Compound Qiao Family Compound]], a real life private palace of traditional Chinese architecture.

* DawsonCasting: Gong Li was twenty-six when she played the nineteen year old Songlian.

* TheCastShowoff: He Saifei (the actress playing Meishan) is actually a famous Yue opera performer in her own right, and did not need a [[TalentDouble talent double]] to sing for her.

* DawnsonCasting: Gong Li was twenty-six when she played the nineteen year old Songlian.