"Five close friends are moments away from womanhood in China. The girls, having witnessed the various denials accorded older sisters, aunts and grandmothers, learn about a special garden where the humiliations of gender need not be endured, where life is blessed, and where entry may be gained on the Day of the Dead. Five Girls and a Rope is a stunning indictment of a society which for millennia proclaimed women both worthless and necessary. Yet the film is bright and swift: it is, after all, about liberation, and the five young actresses easily charm an audience into believing that their road will lead to happiness. Shot in (northern) China by a Taiwanese director, this is a rather spectacular film about extreme choice." (New Directors/New Films, New York)