FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE Movie Review

Bawang Bie Ji

Chen Kaige is one of many directors who've attempted to portray the human price of the massive cultural upheavals that have taken place within China. What sets his Farewell My Concubine apart is the sweeping, universally accessible structure that he's chosen for his story, as well as the humanity with which he portrays his flawed, damaged, yet heroic characters. It's the story of two men who've been trained since childhood for a life in the revered Peking Opera. As children, the pair had no say over what their roles were going to be in this enormously popular, traditional art form; Douzi (played by Leslie Cheung as an adult) was deemed the one to portray the female role of a concubine, while Shitou (Zhang Fengyi) was groomed to play the king. (Their early scenes as children at the Opera's school are grueling enough to make you feel you're watching a kids' version of the gladiatorial training in Spartacus.) Their experience in the Opera is, of course, far more than a job, and their stage personas mirror their actions in the “real” world; Douzi is gay, and his unreciprocated affection for Shitou—in the face of Shitou's affair with and eventual marriage to prostitute Juxian (Gong Li)—is a lifelong source of anguish for him. The picture's half-century time span—taking in World War II and the Cultural Revolution—puts the characters through enormous changes, but Kaige ingeniously uses the Peking Opera as a constant factor around which the country's upheavals swirl. It's a bold and brilliant concept, and Kaige pulls it off. The most powerful screen epics have always worked by keeping a tight focus on the well-drawn characters at their center, and Farewell My Concubine is no exception. Yes, it's a physically magnificent movie—but while that may be what got it into the world's theatres, it's the moving, eloquent portrait of history's indelible impact on individual human beings that makes it a classic.

NEXT STOP … Life on a String, The Blue Kite, To Live

1993 (R) 157m/C HK Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, Gong Li, Lu Qi, Ying Da, Ge You; D: Chen Kaige; W: Lilian Lee, Lu Wei; C: Gu Changwei; M: Zhao Jiping. British Academy Awards '93: Best Foreign Film; Cannes Film Festival '93: Best Film; Golden Globe Awards '94: Best Foreign Film; Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards '93: Best Foreign Film; National Board of Review Awards '93: Best Foreign Film; New York Film Critics Awards '93: Best Foreign Film, Best Supporting Actress (Li); Nominations: Academy Awards '93: Best Cinematography, Best Foreign-Language Film. VHS, LV TOU