China in the 1920’s, the head of a powerful family weds his 4th wife, moving her into his compound with his three other wives. Each wife plots and schemes to gardner the attention of the lord and have the red lanterns hung in front of her residence, which meant he would be spending the night with her. This was a steady paced, fascinating story with the wonderful actress Gong Li (Memoirs of a Geisha, Farewell My Concubine), who did a quiet and powerful performance. The director had individual scenes set up to emphasis the emotions that were on display. I was totally into this film and think you will be too.  Chinese with English subtitles.

3 1/2 stars — DVD