Winner of the Palm D’Or in 1993, this visually spectacular epic charts the troubled relationship of two Peking Opera actors from 1925 to 1977.
Kaige’s, sumptuous Farewell My Concubine, starts as a mutually protective boyhood friendship in response to the harsh disciplines of their training, but by the time they’ve become stars, Dieyi has fallen for his friend Xiaolou - mirroring the on-stage devotion of the concubine he plays. Throughout their lives they are locked into these onstage roles, so inevitably, Dieyi is distraught when Xiaolou marries a prostitute, Juxian, who is more than a match for his jealous hysteria. The trio are also caught up in bigger events; the upheavals of World War II, the communists rise to power and the Cultural Revolution. Over the decades their mutual suspicion, divided loyalties, betrayals and acts of desperate support for one another chime with the mood of China itself.
1994 BAFTA & Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film
“Farewell My Concubine took me to another place and time, and made it emotionally comprehensible. This is one of the year’s best films.”
Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun Times
Dir. Chen Kaige - 1993 - China - 157 mins - Cert 15 - Artificial Eye
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