1991 Chinese drama film, adapted from Su Tong's novel "Wives and Concubines in Groups", directed by Zhang Yimou, starring Gong Li, He Saifei, Cao Cuifen, Kong Lin, and Jin Shuyuan.
Song Lian's father died early, and at the age of nineteen, just after half a year of college, he was sold by his stepmother to a rich family as a little wife, because he was educated and had a stubbornness in his bones. When she got married in the summer, she refused to accept the marriage of the other party's eight-wheeled caravan, but chose to wear a student outfit and walked to the Chen family alone with a suitcase.
The housekeeper in the house hurriedly greeted the fourth lady and took her to his room, and the lady who washed clothes on the side learned that Song Lian was the fourth wife who had just entered the door but gave her a face, it turned out that Old Master Chen had a little liking for her, so he always wanted to be a wife, and now he met the real wife, and this kind of performance was also a beam with her, and the equally arrogant Song Lian deliberately let Yan Er carry her luggage.
Chen Fu rules, every time you marry a person, the lights are displayed, and the house is full of lanterns. After Song Lian finished changing clothes and washing her feet, someone came to hammer her feet, which was a treatment that only the wife who slept that night could enjoy. That night, Old Master Chen stayed in the Songlian House, but the third wife mei shan who was near the house lied that she was in an emergency and sent a messenger to summon Old Master Chen to the past, so Song Lian's cave room flower candle Chen Mansion was alone on the first night of the empty room.
During the day, the housekeeper began to teach Song Lian various rules of the Chen Mansion, including where to eat, when whose house lit the big red lantern, etc., and then went to see the other wives, the eldest wife was old and frail all day to eat and pray buddha without the heart to compete for favors, the second wife Zhuo Yun looked kind and kind with Song Lian pulled the family to let her unload her defenses, she had a daughter; the third wife directly said that she was unwell that day and refused to meet, but saw her son, so that the status of several people was known at a glance.
Yan'er will serve Song Lian full-time in the future, and she still has a look of resentment. Until the first time the whole family ate, Song Lian saw Mei Shan's true face, once a famous singer, came to the house to win the favor of the old man, plus gave birth to a son, let alone the rest of the people in the eyes, I do my own thing, and even do not even look at Song Lian.
Near dusk, the four wives stood in the courtyard, waiting for the old man to decide the candidate to serve the bed, the big red lantern fell to Song Lian's side, naturally she enjoyed the treatment of hammer feet, and as a result, mei shan was swept away that night, Song Lian gambled to let the old man stay, Mei Shan sang on the roof early in the morning to disturb people's dreams, Song Lian was angry and went upstairs, Mei Shan's purpose reached the end of the house, just when Song Lian returned to the house but saw the old man on the goose with his hands, really angry crying, and this old man hated most was that others gambled with him, and that night he lit Mei Shan's lamp.
Out of favor Song Lian hanging out on the roof, saw a hut with iron locks, when she was confused, she was called down by the second wife Zhuo Yun, she gave Song Lian a piece of cloth and wanted to talk to her, Song Lian asked about the house, Zhuo Yun said that she had died in the previous generation, let her not go there and do not mention, this is a taboo of the Chen Mansion.
Eating on this day, Song Lian saw less of the spinach tofu she loved to eat, knew whose lamp was the one who was qualified to order, saw Mei Shan targeting herself, and in a rage, she actually shot the case and left. Mei Shan took the initiative to ask Song Lian to play mahjong to ease the relationship, this fight forgot the hour, the old man came back and could not find Song Lian and lit Zhuo Yun's lamp, Zhuo Yun seized the opportunity to busy offering a massage to serve the old man said that he also wanted to give him a son, Song Lian here accidentally found that Mei Shan and the high doctor who often came to the house to see a doctor actually had a leg, she pretended not to know how to continue playing mahjong after she calmed down.
In the autumn, the old man's freshness to Song Lian passed, and Song Lian still lost some temper from time to time, insisting on asking for the food to be brought to the house to eat, which made several wives even more disgusted. One day the eldest wife's son Feipu returned from the field, his flute sound attracted Song Lian to come, after meeting with him, he remembered that he had brought a flute, went back to rummage but could not find anything, so he asked the goose who helped her pack her clothes, so mistakenly hit and found the secret of the goose, she actually lit a red lantern in her room, and then rummaged through the cabinet and found a small person who was full of needles, the little man wrote the two words of Song Lian on it, and the angry song Lian suddenly felt creepy and pushed the goose to the ground, questioning who wrote the word, Knowing that it was Zhuo Yun, who was usually kind and kind, let Song Lian inhale a cool breath.
Later, Song Lian learned that it was the old man who took her flute and burned it, so he was angry that he had lost his father's relics, and since then the old man often went to Zhuo Yun,and Zhuo Yun also pretended to come over to let Song Lian cut his hair, and Song Lian, who had not yet torn his face, took this opportunity to cut Zhuo Yun's ear, and Mei Shan saw it and came to find Song Lian to form a gang.
It turned out that Mei Shan and Zhuo Yun had a deep grudge, when the two were pregnant at the same time, Zhuo Yun did not poison Mei Shan less, gave her abortion pills, and gave birth injections herself only for early birth, fortunately, Fu Dasheng was born, Mei Shan gave birth to a boy, defeated Zhuo Yun, and was even more dismissive of Zhuo Yun, who acted despicablely, this time to find Song Lian to reconcile, it is an alliance.
Zhuo Yun was often patronized by the old man because of the injury, Song Lian, pretending to be pregnant and trying to win back a round, she lit a long light in the room, Song Lian enjoyed the hammer foot and the current situation, she also asked the old man to call Zhuo Yun to come and rub his shoulders and beat his back, so that he was proud. Autumn to winter, the goose who washed Song Lian's clothes found that her pants were red, and she told the news to Zhuo Yun, who had long been full of resentment towards Song Lian, so that the old man invited Dr. Gao to find out the truth, the pregnancy was exposed, and the old man was angry and ordered the lights to be sealed, which was equivalent to being beaten into the cold palace, and it was difficult to get favored.
Song Lian knew that it was Yan'er's doing, and poked out the lamp in her house to take revenge, and Yan'er endured the family law, and she knelt down in the courtyard of the cold winter moon, and refused to admit her mistake, so she fell to the ground and died before she could be healed.
Song Lian, who did not have a beard, ushered in her twentieth birthday, asked the old mother to buy wine to celebrate her own birthday, the bitterness and bitterness of the past surged into her heart, a lot of drinking, more will be lost, and even told mei shan and dr. Gao about adultery, and just let Zhuo Yun, who came to help her sober up, hear it, this is right in her arms, take someone to catch Mei Shan in bed.
Because of her drunken gaffe caused Mei Shan to be caught, the next day saw a bunch of family members carry Mei Shan into the roof of the small black room, Song Lian was curious to see herself, the tragic situation in the house made her can't help but shout loudly, she stared wide-eyed, bluntly said that the old man is the murderer, and the old man also immediately pronounced a verdict, the fourth wife is crazy!
That night, Song Lian went to Mei Shan's house to light a lantern and put up a record of opera, jia Ding thought it was haunted, scared and fled, Song Lian used this to pay tribute to Mei Shan, but also felt guilty for his gaffe.
The following summer, Chen Fu married the fifth wife, and by this time Song Lian had become a walking corpse, and this was only within a year.
The whole film has no spring symbolizing hope and vitality, it is full of death everywhere, and the people here are like everything, except not like people.