Four-Star Films : ‘Raise the Red Lantern’

Zhang Yimou’s 1991 Oscar-nominated film of astonishing beauty and terror has the impact of Greek tragedy. The director takes us into the cloistered household of a middle-aged Northern Chinese nobleman in the 1920s. A pretty, confident but fatally naive 19-year-old (Gong Li, left) has agreed to his No. 4 wife (Cao Cuifeng, right, portrays the No. 2 wife). Nothing prepares us fully for this calmly shattering film. Set in a totally treacherous household, this film is about as harrowing a portrait of the systematic oppressin of women as imaginable. Every frame of “Raise the Red Lantern” is expressive of the incredibly narrow lives of its women and of the No. 4 wife in particular (Cinemax Monday at 6:20 a.m.).

Other four-star films airing this week:

MASH HBO, Sunday, 10:30 a.m.; Tuesday, 2 p.m.

Ordinary People A&E;, Sunday, 11:30 a.m.

Babette’s Feast Bravo, Monday, 5 and 10 p.m.

Anatomy of a Murder TNT, Monday, 7:05 p.m.

America, America AMC, Wednesday, 9:30 a.m.

Stage Door AMC, Wednesday, 6:30 and 10:30 p.m.