Farewell My Concubine (Ba wang bie ji) - (Copy 2)
ARP Sélection (10/15/1993)
Drama, Epic, Music, Queer Themes/Interest, Romance
In Collection
#1847
9*
Seen ItYes
(9/13/2019 Home)
8809154147997
IMDB   8.1
171 mins China / Mandarin
DVD    US - R
Leslie Cheung Cheng Dieyi (segment Douzi)
Fengyi Zhang Duan Xiaolou (segment Shitou)
Gong Li Juxian
Qi Lu Master Guan
Da Ying Manager
You Ge Master Yuan
Han Lei Xiao Si (adult)
Di Tong Zhang the Eunuch
Zhi Yin Douzi as a Teenager
Mingwei Ma Douzi as a Child
Hailong Zhao Shitou as a Teenager
Yang Fei Shitou as a Child
Dan Li Laizi / Peking Opera schoolboy
Yongchao Yang Laizi as a Child
Fei Huang Old Master
Wenli Jiang Douzi's Mother
Yitong Zhi Aoki Saburo
Chun Li Xiao Si (in his teens)
David Wu Red Guard
Qi Lü Master Guan
Dan Li Laizi
Director/Choreographer
Kaige Chen
Producer Feng Hsu
Xia Zhang
Jade Hsu
Writer/Composer Wei Lu
Pik Wah Lee
Cinematography Changwei Gu
Music Jiping Zhao


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, Doutzi becomes jealous, the beginnings of the acting duo's explosive breakup and tragic fall take root.
Edition Details
Original Title Ba wang bie ji
No. of Discs/Tapes 1
References
Streaming, VoD Cannes 1993
Lists ‡ Rotten Tomatoes: 200 Best LGBT Movies of All Time
Festivals & Awards Cannes 1993
Rotten Critics Rating % (2021) 97

Notes
"Farewell My Concubine," after which the film is titled, is a classic opera in the 200 year-old Beijing Opera repertoire. It is about the Chu-Han Contention, the series of battles around 200 B.C. that established the Chinese Han dynasty. The opera follows the legend about how King Xiang Yu is defeated. His concubine Yu Ji commits suicide out of love and loyalty to her king. In it's classical production, the concubine is played by a male. It is a much honored role, and judged by how convincing the actor is as a woman. The training is the arduous and complex.

The movie starts in the 1920s in Beijing. A cis-male (Douzi) is trained for the concubine role from a young age. He becomes a woman. He falls in love with the actor (Shitou) who plays the king. The love succumbs to the turbulence of the times in China - the Japanese occupation during WWII, the Chinese civil war between the Nationalists and Communists, and the Cultural Revolution - and last but not least, Shitou's marriage to Juxian. a beautiful and famous prostitute.

This is an epic film nearly three hours long. It covers a complex period in China's 20th century history. I had put off watching it from some time because of it's length. I also suggest reading some of the critic's reviews found at IMDb; details of the plot were often obscure to me, but I suspect would have been well recognized by a native Chinese. Don't worry about spoilers. It uses, after all, the tragedy of the clossic opera as the backdrop.

Stories don't come much better than this - an emotional roller coaster ride.
Done to perfection.


By the way, the adult Douzi is played by a woman playing a man, playing a woman. Sound familier?
Cannes 1993 Palme de D'Or.

This is copy 2. All the jacket text is in Chinese. This was the version I viewed.