“Breathtaking.”
—Washington Post

“A beautifully crafted and richly detailed feat of consciousness-raising and a serious drama with the verve of a good soap opera … [A]s visually striking as it is dramatically effective.”
—The New York Times (Critic’s Pick)

“Gong Li delivers a performance of exquisite expressiveness that, like the film itself, is unnerving in its emotional nakedness.”
—Rolling Stone

One of the defining works of Chinese cinema and a touchstone of ’90s international film, Zhang Yimou’s Academy Award®-nominated adaptation of Su Tong’s novella takes us over the high walls of Master Chen’s estate, where concubines vie for power, and one woman seeks to defy her fate. Gong Li stars in this sumptuous lesson in intrigue, “subtly exploring the politics of power and control” (The New York Times), full of “voluptuous physical beauty and angry passions” (Chicago Tribune).  New 4K restoration.