The panorama of 20th-century Chinese history swirls past two men, celebrated actors with their own decidedly specialised view of things. We first observe their lives as children at the Peking Opera training school, a brutal and demanding arena for future actors. While still in training, the effeminate Douzi is chosen to play the transvestite role and the masculine Shitou is chosen to play the royal role in a ritualised play about a king and a concubine. The actors are so good at this performance that they become identified with these roles for their entire careers;... through World War II, through the takeover by the Communists, through the insanity of the Cultural Revolution, they are known for their famous parts. Leslie Cheung and Zhang Fengyi are powerful as the two men, and Gong Li (the beautiful leading lady of Raise the Red Lantern) plays the wife of the latter. The movie may be stronger on good old-fashioned melodrama than on profound conclusions, but boy, does it fill up the eyes. The director is Chen Kaige, one of the most talented members of China's "Fifth Generation" of filmmakers, whose daring subject matter (and sometimes bald international ambitions) have often irked the Chinese government. Indeed, though Farewell My Concubine shared the top prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival and snagged two Oscar nominations, it had difficulty gaining official approval from China. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com [show more]
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Chen Kaige directs this Chinese epic spanning a 50-year relationship between two performers in the Peking Opera troupe. The story follows Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou (Leslie Cheung and Zhang Fengyi) as they progress from a brutal stage academy as young children to the height of their art, before a seductive young woman comes between them and the Cultural Revolution intrudes upon both their professional and personal lives.
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Based on the best-selling novel by Lilian Lee, Farewell My Concubine is an epic exploration of art, friendship and betrayal. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of more than fifty years of Chinese history, the film charts the relationship between Cheng (Leslie Cheung) and Duan (Zhang Fengyi), two stars in the Peking Opera troupe, and the woman who comes between them. Chen Kaige's sumptuous and moving epic holds an important place in the history of Chinese-language cinema. Recognised with more than twenty major awards, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and the FIPRESCI and Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, it brought the cinema of China to a western audience.
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