Ju Dou

Jinshan (played by Li Wei) a wealthy and miserly old owner of a cloth-dyeing factory, purchases the lovely young bride Ju Dou (Gong Li). Sadistic and impotent, he has already beaten two previous wives to death for failing to bear him the son he desires. Ju Dou fails to become pregnant and is tortured as well. At the factory Jinshan berates Tianqing (Li Baotian) a distant nephew like a slave. Each night Tianqing hears the cries of the tormented Ju Dou. Watching as she bathes, he sees the scars left by her tormentor.

Aware her admirer watches she tantalizes and seduces him when the old man is away. Becoming pregnant, she realizes that Jinshan must believe the child is his. The child is born, but Jinshan is injured and is crippled. Jinshan, realizing the child is not his, grows to hate the young lovers, who now flaunt their relationship.

The child Tianbai (played by) thinks Jinshan to be his father and Jinshan, now seeing his chance for revenge, raises him as his own. Tianbai now believing he is the son of a respected factory owner sees Tianqing as his social inferior. But through the taunts of the other village children he is driven to hate the man he believes to be his father's rival. Stars: BAOTIAN LI, JIA JIN, LI GONG, MA CHONG, WEI LI, WU FA, ZHIJUN CONG

Critic Reviews:

• " Its dark wit and fiery pace ensure that even the occasional overheated moments carry conviction. " – Geoff Andrew

• " The picture is, indeed, as deliriously enjoyable. " – Variety Staff

• " As sumptuously cinematic as it is woefully fatalistic. " – Rita Kempley