Pavilion of Women (2001)

This is a film which will appeal to a very large group of people because of old customs of a man in China being able to choose a second wife after years of marriage.The local Missionery has his hands full trying to find ways in order to keep the families from breaking up and at the same time keep himself from being tempted into a sexual relation which is very powerful.There is plenty of romance and lots of explosions and you name it, this film will keep you interested right to the very end of the film.Found the film rather long and not produced as well as I expected for a 2001 film. Give it a try.

A fascinating film about China in 1938, just before the arrival of the invading Japanese. The film shows the real culture of China in a bourgeois family, how they are divided between respecting the traditions that set women apart, that provide married men with concubines, that marries sons and daughters at birth, but the film also shows how the refusal of these alienating traditions leads the sons and daughters of these families into the arms of the Communists, especially with the Japanese arriving. The film also shows how the Americans are trying to meddle with China via the good old Catholic religion that has nothing to do in China but that provides the poorest, in that case orphans, with a little hope and survival. But then the film turns sentimentalese. To make the elder son fall in love with the young concubine of his own father is far-fetched, and to add the mother falling in love with the American priest is even more far-fetched. And that makes the film mushy about good and evil and it forgets a country can only change from inside. It tries to impose onto China a change that comes from outside, from a foreigner who breaks the traditions instead of at the most helping them change all by themselves. It also shows that China in 1938 needed a big break, a big change and that this was going to come from the Communists prompted into taking the control of China by the absurd invasion from Japan. Some beautiful scenes, particularly the fast visions of the play telling the doomed love affair of two young people. Beautiful theater, beautiful drama.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

OK, I see that someone filmed _Pavilion of Women_. Interesting choice. Then I look at the credits: No Tsemo, no Rulan, and... what in the name of Hong Xiuquan is a Japanese general doing in _Pavilion of Women_!? They seem to have this confused with _Dragon Seed_ or something...And I was really looking forward to seeing who they cast as those two. The Tsemo-Rulan story arc was easily my favorite part of the book, and with their very good Fengmo, I had high hopes...In short: this sounds like it's *nothing* like the book. Perhaps I'll get this comment deleted for having been posted without seeing the film, but frankly, with a departure like *this* (not to mention Brother Andre utterly abandoning his original character -- ugh, the fact that the fellow doesn't actually exist doesn't mean that he shouldn't sue), I'd say that seeing the film is probably far too steep a price to pay. Let's hope for a *real* adaptation of _Pavilion_ someday -- or, to be more practical, something like _Kinfolk_, or ideally _Sons_.(Yes, on that subject, well, a _Sons_ movie would be nothing to stab one's treacherous but extremely beautiful kitsune concubine over, but it would be about as close to that as a film would be likely to get...)

Director Ho Yim's movie is based on a novel of Pearl Buck. 60-70 years ago, this writer's books were cross-cultural best sellers, bringing to the US and Western audiences the image of the Far East which soon will have become part of the daily lives, when WWII broke. The film story line has all the elements of the time - melodrama, clash between the Western and Chinese traditions, and a missionary message which is probably the most problematic part of the movie.However, this is a good movie. Certainly, we have seen much better and original ones, coming directly from China without the intervention of the Hollywood producers. Having the film spoken in English may have won some US audiences, but certainly lowers the credibility. However, the filming is exquisite, the historical background is very well re-created, and the acting is fabulous. Is this really Luo Yam's first or second role? This is what IMDB's information says, I simply cannot believe it. She is giving an Oscar level performance, and I am certainly flattering some of the ladies who won feminine role Oscars lately.Worth seeing. 8/10 on my personal scale.