Ju Dou

Ju Dou Chinese pinyin J Du is a 1990 Chinese film directed by Zhang Yimou and Yang Fengliang though it is almost universally considered to be a product of Zhangs vision as director and starring Gong Li as the title character. It is notable for being shot in vivid threestrip Technicolor long after the process had been abandoned in the United States. It was also the first Chinese film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, in 1990.

Ju Dou takes place in the early 20th century in rural China. The story begins as Yang Tianqing the regular Zhang collaborator Li Baotian is returning from a trek to sell silk for his adoptive uncle, Yang Jinshan Li Wei. Jinshan, whose trade is dyeing fabrics, is known for his cruelty. Tianqing learns that Jinshan has just recently purchased a new wife, having beaten two previous wives to death after they failed to produce a son, the cruel irony being that Jinshan is in fact impotent.Upon meeting the wife, Ju Dou Gong Li, Tianqing is immediately enamored with her. At night, Jinshan tortures Ju Dou. Eventually, Tianqing discovers Ju Dous bathing area and spies on her. Soon, the two are unable to control their passions any longer, and they engage in sexual intercourse. When Ju Dou discovers she is pregnant, she and Tianqing pretends that the child is Jinshans. Jinshan suffers a stroke which leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. Confined to a wheel chair, he nevertheless discovers Ju Dou and Tianqings affair and attempts to kill the child. Jinshan is tied up by Tianshing and hoisted in a large barrel, leaving him dangling helplessly. Knowing that society would never accept her infidelities, Ju Dou goes to a nunnery to get contraceptives. ........

Source: Wikipedia