Ju Dou

Ju Dou
Directed by
Based onFuxi Fuxi
by Liu Heng[3]
Produced by
  • Zhang Wenze
  • Yasuyoshi Tokuma
  • Hu Jian[2]
Starring
Edited byDu Yuan[1]
Music byZhao Jiping[1]
Production
companies
Distributed byDaiei (Japan)[1]
Release date
  • 1990 (1990)
Running time
95 minutes[1]
Countries
LanguageMandarin
Box office$2 million[4]

Ju Dou (Chinese: 菊豆; pinyin: Jú Dòu) is a 1990 Mandarin-language romantic-drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and Yang Fengliang, starring Gong Li as the title character. The film, based on the novel Fuxi, Fuxi (伏羲伏羲) by Liu Heng,[3] is a tragedy that revolves around Ju Dou, a beautiful young woman sold as a wife to Jinshan, an elderly cloth dyer. The film was produced using the vivid Technicolor process, long after it had been abandoned in the United States.[5][6] It became the first Chinese film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[7][8]

Upon its release, Ju Dou faced a ban in China,[9][10][11] which was eventually lifted in July 1992.[12]

Plot

Ju Dou is set in the early 20th century in rural China. Yang Tianqing (Li Baotian) returns from a journey to sell silk for his adoptive uncle, Yang Jinshan (Li Wei). Jinshan, a fabric dyer, is notorious for his cruelty. Upon Tianqing's return, another worker is fired by Jinshan. This worker informs Tianqing that Jinshan has recently acquired a new wife, having previously beaten his two wives to death when they failed to bear him a son. Ironically, Jinshan is impotent.

When Tianqing meets the new wife, Ju Dou (Gong Li), he becomes infatuated with her. At night, Jinshan subjects Ju Dou to torture. Tianqing discovers Ju Dou's bathing area and secretly observes her. Unbeknownst to him, Ju Dou is aware of his presence. Initially, Tianqing voyeuristically watches, but Ju Dou transforms his gaze by revealing her bruises and weeping, compelling him to see her as a human being rather than just a sexual object.[13]

Eventually, their passion becomes uncontrollable, and Tianqing and Ju Dou engage in a sexual relationship. When Ju Dou discovers she is pregnant with Tianqing's child, she and Tianqing deceive Jinshan by pretending the child is his. Jinshan suffers a stroke that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. After Ju Dou confesses the truth to him, Jinshan attempts to kill the child and set the house on fire. Tianqing restrains Jinshan by suspending him in a barrel, rendering him a powerless witness to their usurpation. Aware that society would never accept her infidelity, Ju Dou seeks an abortion at a nunnery. Jinshan continues to exert influence over the child, Tianbai, whom he named, and when the child addresses Jinshan as "Father," Jinshan interprets it as psychological revenge against his wife and nephew. One day, despite his doting on Tianbai, Jinshan falls into a dye vat and drowns as Tianbei looks on and laughs.

Seven years later, Ju Dou and Tianqing still operate the dye mill, but Tianbai (Zheng Ji'an) has become an angry teenager. Rumors of his parents' infidelity drive him to nearly kill a local gossipmonger. In a fit of rage, Ju Dou reveals the truth about his parentage to Tianbai. Overwhelmed, she and Tianqing decide to have one final encounter but succumb to exhaustion and fall asleep in a cellar with limited air supply. Upon discovering his parents in a weakened state in the cellar, Tianbai drags them out and drowns Tianqing. Ju Dou, in turn, sets fire to the mill as the film concludes.

Adaptation

In the original novel, Tianqing is Jinshan's biological nephew, and the story revolves around a taboo relationship based on affinity. However, the creators of the film adaptation chose to exclude the incestuous element. In the film, Tianqing and Jinshan are portrayed as unrelated by blood, and Ju Dou initiates her relationship with Tianqing only after discovering their non-biological connection.[14]

Cast

  • Gong Li, as Ju Dou (S: 菊豆, T: 菊荳, P: Jú Dòu);
  • Li Baotian, as Yang Tianqing (S: 杨天青, T: 楊天青, P: Yáng Tiānqīng), Ju Dou's lover and Yang Jinshan's adopted nephew;
  • Li Wei, as Yang Jinshan (S: 杨金山, T: 楊金山, P: Yáng Jīnshān), the owner of the dye mill and Ju Dou's husband;
  • Yi Zhang, as Yang Tianbai (S: 杨天白, T: 楊天白, P: Yáng Tiānbái) as a child; Ju Dou and Tianqing's son;
  • Zheng Ji'an, as Tianbai as a youth.

Release and reception

Ju Dou was released by Miramax Films in March 1991.[1]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 25 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10.[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[16]

Awards

Ju Dou became the first Chinese film to be nominated for an Academy Award. The Chinese government, having already banned the film the year before, attempted to withdraw the film from the awards ceremony, but this request was denied by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Acting Minister of Culture He Jingzhi ordered that two officials at the Chinese Film Bureau, including its chief, Teng Jinxian, and leaders of the China Film Group Corporation write self-criticisms admitting wrongdoing for selecting the film for nomination and drawing worldwide attention to it. Zhang Yimou, however, faced no difficulties regarding his career for directing the film, and suggested it had been banned for its negative depiction of the older character of Jinshan in a country whose government was composed largely of older men.[10][11]

Accolades

Home media

Ju Dou was initially released on DVD in the United States as an all-region disc on the Pioneer label, Geneon Entertainment, on June 29, 1999. The disc included English subtitles.[21]

The film was re-released by Razor Digital Entertainment on February 14, 2006 as part of the new Zhang Yimou collection to capitalize on Zhang's recent international successes of Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The new edition was Region 1 and included English, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese subtitles. Despite the DVD box stating that the film is presented in widescreen, it is actually presented in full frame.[22]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Galbraith IV 1996, p. 239.
  2. ^ a b Galbraith IV 1996, p. 238.
  3. ^ a b Kuoshu, Harry (2002). Celluloid China: Cinematic Encounters with Culture and Society. SIU Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780809324569. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Ju Dou". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 10 October 2025.
  5. ^ Bonet, Christopher (18 December 2006). "The Glory that is Gong Li". IFC News. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  6. ^ Ebert, Roger (12 April 1991). "Ju Dou". Chicago Sun Times. Archived from the original on 5 April 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  7. ^ Neo, David (September 2003). "Red Sorghum: A Search for Roots". Senses of Cinema. Archived from the original on 27 April 2007. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
  8. ^ "The 63rd Academy Awards (1991) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  9. ^ Zhang, Yimou (1 January 2001). Gateward, Frances K. (ed.). Zhang Yimou: Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-1-57806-262-1 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ^ a b Holley, David (8 April 1991). "China's Angry Old Men Crack Down Again : Movies: Embarrassed by 'Ju Dou's' Oscar nomination, cultural officials demand admissions of 'error' of film bureau officials who sought it. But film's director has apparently not been affected". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  11. ^ a b "CHINESE ARTS OFFICIALS PUNISHED FOR OSCAR BID". The Washington Post. 1 April 1991. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  12. ^ Zhang Yimou. Frances K. Gateward, Yimou Zhang, Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2001, p. 42.
  13. ^ Larson, Wendy (2017). Zhang Yimou: Globalization and the Subject of Culture. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press. pp. 77–104. ISBN 9781604979756.
  14. ^ Gateward, Frances K. (2001). Zhang Yimou: Interviews. Conversations with filmmakers. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 159. ISBN 978-1-57806-261-4. ISSN 1556-1593.
  15. ^ "Ju Dou". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  16. ^ "Ju Dou Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
  17. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Ju Dou". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  18. ^ "Journey of Hope" Wins Foreign Language Film: 1991 Oscars. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2026 – via YouTube.
  19. ^ "100 best Chinese Mainland Films". Time Out. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  20. ^ "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  21. ^ Amazon.com: Ju Dou
  22. ^ Amazon.com: Ju Dou

Sources

  • Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0032-3.
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