Release, runtime and language

1990 · 95 mins · Chinese

Directed by

Zhang Yimou

Starring

Li Wei, Zhang Yi, Gong Li, Li Baotian, Niu Xingli, Jia Zhaoji

A woman wed to the brutal, infertile owner of a rural Chinese dye mill bears a child with her husband’s nephew, yet must conceal the boy’s true paternity and raise him as her husband’s heir. Shot in vivid technicolour, the film weaves erotic longing, family loyalty and rigid tradition into a universal, circular tragedy.