The Nine (2023)

quel que soit le prix

cette série aurait pu s'appeler :
la vengeance à n'importe quel prix
la condition de la femme sous l'empire
le loup dans la bergerie
Le pot de terre contre le pot de fer

Le ton est donné assez vite, on se trouve dans une école de broderie pour jeunes filles (15 ans) dirigée par un prédateur sexuel très intelligent.
A cette époque, la vertu (et donc la réputation) des femmes est capitale. Une femme violée subit un double crime, puisque s'il elle dénonce son agresseur devant les juges, soit elle perd et est considérée comme séductrice etc, soit elle gagne mais cela ne lui rend pas sa virginité, et en plus cela va semer le doute sur toutes les autres filles de l'école. La loi du silence est donc omniprésente, et bien sur, favorise les violeurs
Les acteurs sont excellents et crédibles. La performance de Qiao Zhen Yu que je ne connaissais pas est notable, il fait un parfait vilain !
J'ai bien aimé le format des 2 tiers de la série, avec un épisode au moment des faits, et l'épisode suivant 7 ans après. De plus l'introduction des personnages est bien faite, épisode après épisode.
SPOILER en dessous!


A noter que la série est en 24 épisodes, le 25e donne une histoire alternative pour nous mettre du baume au coeur


Après la mort de son amie, une femme elle-même victime, va élaborer un plan sur le long terme (7 ans) pour se venger.
Elle va trouver d'autres personnes qui vont l'aider, mais le prix à payer va être très élevé, des morts, des blessés, des gens qui se quittent. Face à quelqu'un de puissant, riche et très intelligent, le combat s'annonce farouche et surtout très déséquilibré.
Quand on voit la sanction qu'il a au final.... 30 coups de fouet et l'exil (bon il se suicide, mais sinon ce n'est pas cher payé)

En conclusion, c'est une très bonne série, qui aborde un sujet très dur de façon brute, pour qu'on comprenne la souffrance de ces femmes et l'impasse dans laquelle elles se trouvent après un viol.

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Those who seek revenge dig two graves.

This is a heartbreaking and sobering revenge drama about an ancient Me Too movenment by nine commoners seeking justice. The two main protagonists, Rulan and Meng Wan are apprentices at Yanyu Tower, whose exquisite embroidery are prized by the imperial palace. Underneath his polished and elegant facade, Yanyu Tower's proprietor and master embroiderer Wu Lian is the worst kind of predator; one who uses his power and privilege to repeatedly manipulate and abuse the young women working for him. When Rulan has the audacity and tenacity to seek legal redress, most including her bestie Meng Wan hesitate to help her; knowing how stacked the system is against them. Ultimately her plight and her conviction inspires nine people to devote their entire reason for existence to taking Wu Lian down and obtaining justice for Rulan and in some cases themselves. There are no fairytales in this drama; their stories are utterly devastating; alternately moving me to tears and making my teeth clench and my blood boil.

This drama is not for the faint hearted and comes with a ton of trigger warnings. It is ruthless and brutal in terms of its scathing depiction of the unbalanced power dynamics between the powerful and the powerless. It convincingly articulates why regardless of consequences, Rulan, Meng Wan and their friends decide to take a stand against a clever, powerful and ruthless opponent. Their efforts are stymied at almost every turn and many of them pay the dear cost of justice. Wu Lian is almost too smart a villain and too well resourced. It is dismaying to see these nine avengers fall for the same traps over and over. In desperation, some of them take unnecessary risks and make terrible sacrifices with scant payoff in their attempt to gather enough evidence to indict him.

This is a large cast with consequential roles that deliver all around strong performances. Hu Yixuan's portrayal of Rulan's disillusionment, agony, bravery and forlorn quest for justice is harrowing, piteous and ultimately tragic. Wu Qian also impresses as the icily soft spoken, resolute avenging angel and mastermind of the revenge plot. As for Wu Lian, it is rare to encounter such an intelligent and downright despicable villain, masterfully acted by Qiao Zhenyu. All of the support roles come together well to paint a picture of common people from all walks of life with dreams and goals that get disrupted as they come together to get justice. The thief Li Chunfeng and the embroideress Jue Ming charmed and moved me into rooting for them most.

This kind of drama that tackles such a difficult subject matter is unlikely to appeal broad audiences. It is well executed for the most part but tends to be unnecessarily melodramatic in the later arcs. The villain origin backstory left me unmoved and is not convincing. I would expect Wu Lian's father's concubine to have impacted him in a more positive way. While this story ends in a realistic way, I am not satisfied. Wu Lian's enablers who covered for him repeatedly get off way too lightly. Finally the way this wraps up sends too strong a message that those who seek revenge dig two graves. Revenge becomes their sole purpose and end game to the extent that I wonder - did they really win? There is just too much collateral damage and sacrifice even though Humpty Dumpty can not be put together again. Maybe it would have been better to just live well. I needed to see at least one of the victims recover from this and go on to have a good life. The final What If episode 25 made me feel worse not better. I struggle with how to rate this. As much as I applaud the topic, the acting and how emotionally invested I got in the story, it left me with a hollow feeling after the ending arcs. It is still a good, thought provoking watch but I can only rate this a 7.5/10.0.

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