Farewell My Concubine

1993 "The passionate story of two lifelong friends and the woman who comes between them."
Farewell My Concubine
8.1| 2h51m| R| en| More Info
Released: 16 September 1993 Released
Producted By: Beijing Film Studio
Country: Hong Kong
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Abandoned by his prostitute mother in 1920, Douzi was raised by a theater troupe. There he meets Shitou and over the following years the two develop an act entitled "Farewell My Concubine" that brings them fame and fortune. When Shitou marries Juxian, Douzi becomes jealous, the beginnings of the acting duo's explosive breakup and tragic fall take root.

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rsantibanezab I had an enormous expectation at moment I seat on my couch and put the movie in my TV, and for my pleasure, the film doesn't disappointed me. I want to speak about four element who, in my opinion, make this film a truly masterpiece. 1. The beautiful photography and the perfect control of the time and the sequence of scenes for part of the director. Nothing is left, nothing is missing. The almost 3 hours what does this last, I almost didn't felt them. 2. The script work. Beautiful dialogues, natural link between one scene and another, and a very credible story. In no one part I thought "this is not possible". A very important achievement for a very ambitious movie like this. 3. The interpretations was magisterial, specially Leslie Cheung (Daoyi) and Gong Li (Juxian). All the time I felt I was looking the characters and I never saw the actor behind them. 4. The movie no only was about the opera, was a kind of opera. I'm a little familiar with the Chinese aesthetic, and this movie remember me the classic literature and the Beijing Opera progression. At the end the film become more symbolic and emotional, just like the climax of the classical Chinese works. This movie capture the Chinese soul, so we don't need to put names like "shakespearean" or make the reference of any other western artist, because the principal inspiration for this movie, in my point of view, is deeply Chinese. This movie is the Taoist ductility of the Chinese art, who are in constantly change and mutation.Anyone who loves the cinema, the history or the high art must see this movie.
Jackson Booth-Millard This Chinese film is one I found in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I didn't know anything about it beforehand, but it was rated highly by the critics, so I hoped for something good. Basically set in the 1920s and continuing through to the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, this is the story of how performers Douzi (Leslie Cheung) and Shitou (Fengyi Zhang) became friends and talented actors in the Beijing Opera. Later however Douzi wants to be more than friends, Shitou does not give into his advances, the situation worsens when courtesan Juxian (Li Gong) manipulates Shitou into rescuing her from a life of prostitution, and then marrying her, while Douzi is in fact homosexual. The friendship and relationship status between Douzi and Shitou goes up and down through the changing times over fifty years of Chinese history, but they remain close, but it is unclear whether they can return to the way things used to be, and the show must go on. Also starring Qi Lü as Master Guan, Da Ying as Manager, You Ge as Master Yuan, Chun Li as Xiao Si as a teenager, Han Lei as Xiao Si as an adult, Mingwei Ma as Douzi as a child, Zhi Yin as Douzi as a teenager, Yang Fei as Shitou as a child and Hailong Zhao as Shitou as a teenager. I will admit having to read the subtitles I could not follow absolutely everything going on, but the acting is certainly well done, the colourful sets and costumes certainly grab your attention, and the theatrical performances are interesting to watch, all in all I think the film is a worthwhile art house drama. Good, in my opinion! It won the BAFTA for Best Film not in the English Language, it won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and it was nominated the Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film. Good!
akash_sebastian An intriguing tale, with a fascinating chunk of modern Chinese history serving as the background. Spanning over 50 years, the film tells about the ups and downs of a traditional Peking Opera troupe, and its two stars, from 1924 to 1977. Not only do we see the various political events of the time, but also how the traditional opera and its stars are treated during different eras.The two stars, Dieyi and Xiaolou, are brought up and trained to play specific roles - that of concubine and king respectively - in a famous play. Dieyi (Douzi) is trained, or should I say, forced to behave, sing, move and dance like a girl, from a very young age. The two of them share a unique and close bond, and this balance gets affected when a woman, Juxian, enters the picture. Their political naiveté get them into many problems, but it's their properly unresolved love triangle that causes more trouble.The lines between fact and fiction are blurred when we realise the similarities between the play and their actual lives. Dieyi's devotion to opera and Xiaolou are as strong as the concubine's devotion to the king. (The lines are blurred even more when Leslie Cheung, bisexual himself, takes his life in 2003) The end is inevitable, as we realise while the story progresses, but it's reached with proper momentum and after an intriguing chain of events.The acting by the three leads is really terrific. Leslie Cheung as the female-role playing opera star who's completely devoted to his art, Fengyi Zhang as a talented and playful man who can easily separate his private and work lives, and Gong Li as the prostitute-turned-wife whose shades of determination and compassion keeps us from not having a fixed view of her character. With Chen Kaige's talented direction and Gu Changwei's spectacular cinematography, the movie has many colourful and memorable scenes.I really liked the movie, and wasn't bored for a single second. The movie deals with so many interesting themes - Modern Chinese history, sexuality, art and its reception, devotion and passion - but yet it somehow makes me feel that it had the potential to be much more compelling. Other than the political events, the characters could have been explored a little more.
Lynn Zhuang Most genuine is the parallel between opera and life. This is not alien to Chinese people but people in other culture are not familiar with this concept. Chinese people deem our life in other way is an opera and everyone has his own role. Tears, laughter, sorrow, anger, despair are the various emotions in the opera and the various experiences in life. Most important this concept is associated with the emptiness of life. Everything would be gone, just like an opera would end somehow. Despite the emptiness opera is so beautiful and stands for the delicacy and refinement of art. In the film Dieyi and Yuan performs their desperate love towards Opera, indicating their pursuit for the true, the good and the beautiful. Dieyi is a pure man pursuing his ideal both in art and in the real world. Yuan is not as perfect. He is a sophisticated speculator, and has struggled for wealth and fame for his whole life. But he is so obsessed with opera for it is perfect beauty. Dieyi is the incarnation of the beauty which he is dying for. In his pursuing for, protecting, and admiring Dieyi in spite of the others' disliking him and misunderstanding, we see respectable humanness.First time he saw Dieyi he can sense that he is not welcomed. But as a gentleman he expressed his admiration and then left. His directness and decisiveness shows his confidence as well, with a clear mind that he has something else what would win Dieyi's heart, other than money.His argument with Xiaolou on the opera performance shows his insist on art, independent thinking, and his knowledge in opera, and is a foreshadowing for his own competition with Xiaolou. Xiaolou got married and Dieyi was not happy and desperate. Yuan came comforting Dieyi and took him away. Or we say this time Dieyi followed him. He fulfilled his dream to perform the opera together with Dieyi although without any spectator. In his house Dieyi saw the sword and Yuan gives it away unconditionally. He knows Dieyi would leave anyway with the sword, but he never complains, but just gives what he has, to help fulfill Dieyi's dream.Later when Dieyi performed on stage he was interrupted by anti-Japanese leaflet. But Dieyi insisted to complete the performance. In the darkness only Yuan was watching. He really understands what Dieyi insists on, that is the independence of art in spite of any political or racial view. When Dieyi was on trial for betraying his country, it is Yuan that help secure Dieyi. He asks for nothing in return but wants to argue with Xiaolou for the previous performance issue. This is the first time he tries to prove others his pursuit for art. Before that he only did this with Dieyi. We can say he compels Xiaolou, or is willful. He loves Dieyi but doesn't want to occupy him. He lets Dieyi free and is there to protect him. This is unselfish and unconditional, and is different from the romantic love. Or we can say, the love for Dieyi is also his love for the purity of life and the beauty. He saw a Dieyi that lives out his beliefs and values, to some extent Dieyi is another Yuan in Yuan's eyes, standing for the part of Yuan that is free to pursue love and beauty. He loves Dieyi but doesn't want to occupy him. He lets Dieyi free and is there to protect him. This is unselfish and unconditional, and is different from the romantic love. Or we can say, the love for Dieyi is also his love for the purity of life and the beauty. He saw a Dieyi that lives out his beliefs and values, to some extent Dieyi is another Yuan in Yuan's eyes, standing for the part of Yuan that is free to pursue love and beauty. Yuan was executed in the end. Before he died he defends the opera art at a price of his life. He can die without pity, for he finally carries out his value. He never is able to perform on the stage, for he can't be a pure artist, but the execution of him brings him onto the stage, on the last day of his life. How ridiculous this is. The world has become insane. Yuan knows it pretty well and stepped onto the stage with ease. Yuan was executed in the end. Before he died he defends the opera art at a price of his life. He can die without pity, for he finally carries out his value. He never is able to perform on the stage, for he can't be a pure artist, but the execution of him brings him onto the stage, on the last day of his life. How ridiculous this is. The world has become insane. Yuan knows it pretty well and stepped onto the stage with ease.