Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Pavilion of Women

Play trailer Poster for Pavilion of Women R 2001 1h 56m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
6% Tomatometer 32 Reviews 53% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Madame Wu (Luo Yan), an aristocrat's wife, yearns to expand her intellectual horizons now that her two sons are grown. She arranges for a concubine to come to the house to distract her husband while she pursues her own studies, which leads her to Andre, an American missionary doctor (Willem Dafoe), with whom she soon falls in love...
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Pavilion of Women

Pavilion of Women

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Generating more suds than a soap opera, this adaptation of Pearl Buck's novel sinks under the weight of excess melodrama, stilted performances, and cheesy dialogue.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Robert Koehler Variety 06/11/2001
In many ways, this is the East Asian equivalent of the old Europudding productions, where international players have created something that's more cacaphonous than melodious. Go to Full Review
Michael Rechtshaffen The Hollywood Reporter 05/11/2001
Despite solid performances and handsome production values, the picture ultimately feels like secondhand goods that have been refurbished for North American consumption. Go to Full Review
Mark Jenkins Washington Post 05/04/2001
1.5/5
An instant antique. Go to Full Review
Betsy Bozdech DVDJournal.com 09/04/2006
1.5/4
On the whole, you'd be better off catching a couple of hours of 'Days of Our Lives.' Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 10/06/2005
3/5
Michael Dequina TheMovieReport.com 09/17/2005
2/4
The only importance anyone is likely to associate with this overblown melodrama is self-importance. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
08/03/2014 Had so much potential , if a better script See more 10/06/2013 Not the end-all-&-be-all... but it was good, had a lot of emotion, romanticism, cultural... See more 09/04/2013 Got to love RT's American Critics...who are so ignorant and insensitive to any other culture than their own that it's like a mirror to their government's foreign policy...with a rating of 6% by these Hollywood Propaganda-conditioned no-minds -- I can almost bet every time that it's going to be a great movie -- and in this case I was not disappointed! Gorgeous cinematography and period Chinese set-pieces and architecture combined with a very Romantic script made this a very enjoyable referential one-off. Well Executed! (Pun Intended). See more 12/26/2012 Okay, we've all seen Memoirs of a Geisha. 85 million dollar budget, mixed cast from several different backgrounds, made for American audiences - alright, this seems familiar. Now totally wipe that out of your head before you watch this movie. With roughly a 5 million dollar budget in comparison, this movie had far less flexibility in picking their supporting cast to expect the acting to not be a little over-exaggerated or off kilter at times. From beginning to end, the movie fluctuates between dramatic, personal scenes meant to pull you into the moment and tug at your thinker, sporting genuine and heart-felt acting by Willem Dafoe, Yan Luo, Yi Ding, and John Cho, and then explodes into what may seem sometimes ridiculous or cheesy by some of the lesser known cast. I have not read the book it was apparently based on, yet the movie had a beautifully tragic plot with all ranges of acting and an interesting look at pre-WWII China. The story is meant to have a more serious, dry tone and if you can look past your 2012 movie expectations and really watch the story unfold, it's definitely a movie worth watching. See more 06/23/2012 I found this a very interesting film. It displayed customs and traditions of pre WWII society. A romantic tragedy worth seeing. See more 04/25/2012 A story about love and the sacrifices for love. I was really impressed by John Cho's performance as well as Luo Yan's; both of their characters (son and mother) feel trapped (by his father- her husband). He finds love with his father's second wife (who is his own age) while his mother falls for a missionary. Powerful. Simply powerful. See more Read all reviews
Pavilion of Women

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Millennium Mambo 84% 70% Millennium Mambo Watchlist The Man Who Cried 35% 59% The Man Who Cried Watchlist Lan Yu 68% 84% Lan Yu Watchlist White Mischief 80% 55% White Mischief Watchlist Firelight 41% 82% Firelight Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Madame Wu (Luo Yan), an aristocrat's wife, yearns to expand her intellectual horizons now that her two sons are grown. She arranges for a concubine to come to the house to distract her husband while she pursues her own studies, which leads her to Andre, an American missionary doctor (Willem Dafoe), with whom she soon falls in love...
Director
Yim Ho
Producer
Luo Yan
Screenwriter
Luo Yan, Paul R. Collins, Pearl S. Buck
Distributor
Universal Focus
Production Co
Silver Dream Productions
Rating
R (War Images|Sexuality)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 4, 2001, Wide
Release Date (DVD)
Aug 24, 2004
Box Office (Gross USA)
$35.9K
Runtime
1h 56m
Sound Mix
Surround
Most Popular at Home Now