Is this film very similar to the original story of Raise the Red Lantern?
I have recently read it, and then I read a quick plot summary of the film, and it seems to have been changed quite a lot.
Has anyone seen both the film and read the original story? How similar are they?
Thanks.
Blooming good looking:
I re-read you post and now I see that you read the book but did not watch the movie. At first, I thought it was the other way round. So I decided to make this comparison:
A is the novella, B is the movie:
1. Songlian's arrival
A: She is carried in bridal sedan through the back gate / B: She goes there by herself
2. Red lanterns
A: No special ritual involving red lanterns / B: Red lanterns are lit in the court of the woman the master spends the night with
3. Pregnancy
A: Songlian does not feign a pregnancy / B: Songlian feigns a pregnancy
4. Yan'er's Death
A: She dies from typhoid, caused by a piece of toilet paper Songlian forced her to eat. / B: Dies from hypothermia, resulting from a punishment inflicted to her by Songlian (she's forced to watch her illicitly lit lanters smolder while kneeling in the snow and later refuses to stand up)
5. Meishan's Death
A: She is caught by Zhouyun and executed by being thrown into a well. / B: She is caught by Zhouyun — because Songlian betrayed Meishan in a drunken stupor — and executed in a special death chamber on top of the Chen estate.
Minor differences: Feipu plays only a minor role in the movie. There is no mentioning of Master Chen's sexual malfunctioning or predelections. His birthday party is omitted. There is no mentioning of a daughter of Yuru, the first mistress.