Ju Dou - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

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 and treats Tianqing with much scorn. Upon returning, 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. During the day they act with some detachment from one another, both living in fear of Jinshan. At night, Jinshan tortures Ju Dou as Tianqing is forced to listen to her cries. Eventually, Tianqing discovers Ju Dou's bathing area and spies on her. When she discovers the peephole, she is at first concerned, but eventually uses the hole to expose her bruises to him. Soon, the two are unable to control their passions any longer, and they engage in sexual intercourse next to the dye vats. When Ju Dou discovers she is pregnant, she and Tianqing carry on the façade that the child is in fact Jinshan's. The child, Tianbai is soon born and carries on Jinshan's and not Tianqing's name.

At this point, however, Jinshan suffers a stroke which leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. Confined to a wheel chair, he nevertheless discovers Ju Dou and Tianqing's affair and attempts to kill the child. Stopped by the parents, Jinshan's past cruelty is repaid upon him as he is hoisted in a large barrel, leaving him dangling helplessly during the night. Despite their happiness, Tianqing and Ju Dou suffer another setback when Ju Dou believes that she is yet again pregnant. However, later she receives her period and the couple is relieved. Knowing that society would infer and could never accept her infidelities, Ju Dou goes to a nunnery to get contraceptives. The contraceptives given to her turn out to be hot chili powder and they leave her barren.

Meanwhile Tianbai has grown into a sullen child (Yi Zhang). He has yet to speak, and both Ju Dou and Tianqing worry about him. Jin Shan meanwhile is still left in his barrel. When he sees the child, he at first attempts to push him into the dye vat, but when Tianbai calls him "Father," his heart immediately melts and he accepts the boy as his son. While Ju Dou and Tianqing are horrified, they know they can say nothing. Jinshan's happiness is short-lived, however, as he himself falls into the dye vat and drowns one day while playing with his "son," who watches the man flail helplessly but does nothing to save him. The funeral is treated with much pomp and circumstance as Confucian dogma requires both Ju Dou and Tianqing to "beg" the casket not to leave. Ju Dou, moreover, is never allowed to be with another man.

The film then cuts to ten years later. Ju Dou and Tianqing still run the dye operation, but Tianbai (now played by Zheng Ji'an) is now a rage-filled teenager. Rumors of his parents' infidelities drive him to nearly kill a local gossip. Upon discovering his parents passed out in a stifling underground cellar after one of their trysts, Tianbai drags them into the open before throwing his father into a vat. Although disoriented and short of oxygen, it seems as if Tianqing will get out. However, Tianbai clubs him with a heavy stick and knocks him unconscious, resulting in Tianqing drowning. Ju Dou then burns the mill down, and watches as the flames engulf the rolls of silk around her as the film ends.