Raise the Red Lantern

In a Chinese town in the 1920’s, four wives in a polygamous marriage jockey for what limited power is available to them within a claustrophobic and patriarchal household. Issues of class, gender and sexual hierarchies, and questions about the role of history versus fate emerge in the increasingly tension-filled atmosphere of this marital hothouse, where servants who are keenly aware of rank and status also act to resist and perpetuate the traditions of the Chen household. (official distributor synopsis)