A highly polished, beautiful, and interesting, yet... 'Raise the Red Lantern'

This is a 1991 historical drama directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li, following 'Red Sorghum,' 'Ju Dou,' and 'The Story of Qiu Ju'.
I finally watched this masterpiece, which was executive produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien of 'A City of Sadness' and won the Silver Lion (Best Director) at the 48th Venice International Film Festival.

The story is:

Songlian drops out of university after her father's death and becomes the fourth wife of a wealthy man. There, she despairs at the sight of the three wives living in a closed-off world. The maid assigned to her is favored by the master and is resentful and rebellious toward Songlian because she herself could not become the fourth wife. The third wife, perhaps out of jealousy, makes a scene in the middle of the night claiming she is ill to summon the master, and in the early morning, she disturbs everyone's sleep by showing off the singing voice she cultivated as a former actress. The first wife has reached a state of resignation and only follows traditions, while the second wife acts kindly toward Songlian while secretly placing curses on her with the maid.
Songlian, trying to monopolize the master's heart, fakes a pregnancy, which eventually leads to many deaths...

It was the 'Ooku' of China 100 years ago!

The drama of love and hatred surrounding the master among the four wives and one maid is a common trope in the Japanese 'Ooku' (women's quarters), so it lacks a sense of novelty.
Even so, the reason I can keep watching is the beauty of the art direction and cinematography, and the subtlety of the cast's performances.
Using symmetry frequently and employing red impressively, Zhang Yimou's direction is brilliant, giving even a tawdry story a sense of gravitas.

I think this is a work from the era when Gong Li was at her most beautiful, but...

Visually, it is an absolute beauty that could be called the peak of Gong Li, but the character she plays, Songlian, has such a bad personality that she causes a downward spiral, and the film ends on a bad note.
The heroine is similar to the one in 'Ju Dou' in that she marries due to poverty, but in 'Ju Dou,' the master is a sadist who torments her night after night with SM play, forcing her to seduce his adopted son to survive. In contrast, this Songlian doesn't even have to work and lives a life of relative freedom aside from serving the master at night. Yet, she is so unpleasant, resenting and treating those around her harshly, that I cannot like her at all.
It is also exhausting that everyone around her is black-hearted and unpleasant. I feel this work lacks the urgency found in 'Red Sorghum' or 'Ju Dou'.
Compared to this work, 'Ju Dou' was much more enjoyable because it had the treat of eroticism.
Even in terms of the film's budget, it seems to be a much bigger production than 'Ju Dou,' and the level of perfection is high, but if asked which is more appealing, it is definitely 'Ju Dou'.
It was a film that made me understand why Zhang Yimou would later go on to make shallow action films in Hollywood.