Details
Movie Description
In Chen Kaige's adaptation of the Lilian Lee novel, Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Fengyi Zhang) grow up enduring the harsh training of the Peking Opera Academy, where instructors regularly beat the children as a means of instilling in them the discipline needed to master the complex physical and vocal technique. As the two boys mature, they develop complementary talents: Dieyi, with his fine, delicate features, assumes the female roles while the burlier Xiaolou plays masculine warlords. Their dramatic identities become real for Dieyi when he falls in love with Xiaolou; the resolutely heterosexual Xiaolou, however, marries a courtesan, Juxian (Gong Li), creating a dangerous, jealousy-filled romantic triangle. Spanning 50 years from the early part of the 20th century to the tumultuous Cultural Revolution, Kaige's passionate, exquisitely shot film captures the vast historical scope of a changing world (and the mesmerizing pageantry of the opera) while also providing the intimate and touching details of a unique, tender, heartrending love story.
Synopsis
The enduring friendship of two Chinese opera singers is put to the test by a love triangle involving a beautiful courtesan.
Film Notes
DVD Features:
Region 1 Encoding
Keep Case
English subtitles by Linda Jaivin. For Miramax video releases, the subtitles are in yellow.
Additional crew: Dong Gang & Lia Baoquan (Steadicam); Tang Jirong (Peking Opera Music Designer); Tao Jing (sound recordist); Fan Qingshan and Xu Guangrui (makeup); Wang Chunpu, Zhang Ruihe, Song Wangxiang, and Zhang Jungui (set decorators); and Xhang Jinzhan, Bai Yu, Jin Ping and Zhang Jinting (assistant directors).
Additional cast: Ge You (Master Yuan); Lei Han (Adult Xiao Si); Yin Zhi (Teenage Douzi); Ma Mingwei (Douzi as child); Zhao Hailong (Teenage Shitou); and Fei Yang (Shitou as child).
"Farewell My Concubine" shared the Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival with "The Piano."
Rated BBFC 15 by the British Board of Film Classification.
Industry Reviews
"...[The film has] a persuasive unity and coherence..."
Rayns
"...Seductively lensed....Zhang anchors the movie in a powerful, shaded performance..."
Variety - Derek Elley (05/24/1993)
"...CONCUBINE is a knockout....A fearless denunciation of those in any regime who would stifle life and art, the two being inseparable in Chen's mind..."
Film Comment - Mary Corliss (07/01/1993)
"...FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE is a demonstration of how a great epic can function....This is one of the year's best films..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (10/29/1993)
Quotations
"The passionate triangle of two lifelong friends and the woman who comes between them!" -- marketing line for the film
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