Raise the Red Lantern

Teenage Songlian (Gong Li), whose family has been devastated by the recent death of her father, becomes the third concubine of wealthy Master Chen (Ma Jingwu). She soon discovers that behind the palatial luxury of life in the master's house, she and her fellow concubines, Zhuoyan (Cao Cuifeng) and Meishan (He Caifei), are pitted against each other in a struggle for his affections. The situation inevitably leads to deception, jealous rages and the revelation of each other's darkest secrets.

The 4K restoration of Raise the Red Lantern was carried out by the Udine Far East Film Festival on the occasion of its 26th edition. The original image and sound negatives were used under the supervision of Director Zhang Yimou. The vintage positive copy, presented at the 1991 Venice International Film Festival and preserved at the Venice Biennale's Historical Archive of Contemporary Arts, was used for color reference. The restoration was made in 2024 at L'Immagine Ritrovata (Hong Kong - Bologna).

"Raise the Red Lantern is, first and foremost, an extraordinarily beautiful film (Yimou is arguably the most gifted artist working today when it comes to the use of vibrant primary colors and light), but it's also a very accessible and powerful tale of love, deceit, murder, and madness." - Randy Pitman, Video Librarian