Critically acclaimed as one of the best films of the year, this seductive, award-winning triumph captivated moviegoers the world over. It's the compelling tale of two lifelong friends unexpectedly caught in a passionate love triangle with the woman who comes between them! Academy Award(R)-nominated, FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE (1993 -- Best Foreign Language Film) earned the Golden Globe as Best Foreign Film in addition to claiming Best Picture honors at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival! Packed with vivid, provocative imagery throughout, this sensual story of love and betrayal is the hot and exotic must-see movie of the year!
The panorama of 20th-century Chinese history swirls past two men, celebrated actors with their own decidedly specialized 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 ritualized 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

Customer Rating:
Summary: A very lovely film...
Comment: The film paints the story of two actors, from their first encounter at school in the Twenties through their success as stars of the Peking Opera, difficulties during the Japanese occupation, the Communist takeover in 1949 and the traumas of the Cultural Revolution in the Sixties...

For the so-called Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers, the film touches new ground on two fronts... In the first place, though it does not avoid from acknowledging the sufferings under the old regime, it takes an embittered view of Communist society and of the Cultural Revolution specifically...

The two friends, Xiaolou and Dieyi, adopt a young man, Xiao Si, who becomes one of the Red Guards and quickly informs the political sins of his benefactors...

Second the film is a love story of a rare kind... Dieyi is a homosexual and suffers rejection when Xiaolou begins an affair with Juxian (Gong Li), a gorgeous prostitute... The personal conflict of each character is the heart of this exceptional movie...

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Intense, Deep Historical Epic and Personal Story
Comment: I expected a love triangle - as stated on the DVD cover but this film is about so much more. It is an historical epic of gigantic proportions covering about fifty years of Chinese history. The film also serves as a metaphor for the lives of the actors. Viewed without proper insight, the viewer could miss many of the fine qualities associated with this film. The DVD cover attests 1)over 60 Critics had agreed it was one of the year's 10 best films in 1993, 2) it won the prestigious "Best Picture Honors" at the Cannes Film Festival, and 3) it won a Golden Globe as best foreign film. The film is highly artistic when viewed from multiple perspectives: the obvious surface view, the delicate and sensitive themes of male friendship/bonding, romantic love, political/historical changes, and the depth of human relationships which are thoroughly explored.

It is about the training of young boys to be actors in the Peking Opera Academy which performs classical Chinese opera in large cities during tumultous times in China's history. They perform a classic piece about an Emperor who is deposed and his concubine, who makes the ultimate sacrifice for him: she commits suicide out of love and loyalty. Primarily, the film focuses on the lives of two specific actors, who become best friends from childhood well into adulthood. They suffer severe punishment in their early training for their stage roles and eventually become famous. Each plays one of the starring roles in this classic called "Farewell My Concubine" which is a famous and favorite Chinese opera. One plays the Emperor and the other his Concubine. The two actors are inextricably bound as friends and actors due to this Opera. Tensions develop in their adult friendship and relationship because one of them falls in love with a prostitute and marries her. Their relationship is obviously strained due to this marriage but the problems go much deeper. There are political upheavals which cause a great deal of stress and strife in the lives of the Chinese people and the opera performers are forced to perform under circumstances against their wills but they do so - to save their lives. Later, during Mao Tse Tung's "Cultural Revolution" - the actors are put on trial for their perceived political stance in the previous regime.

The roots of this film run very deep. The film explores risky areas of human relationships, one of which includes male bonding which becomes a deeper same sex love desire that remains unfulfilled. It lasts 172 minutes which is nearly 3 hours, so one must really desire to see it and commit the necessary time for full appreciation. While I liked the film, I will give it only four stars despite the rave reviews by professional critics because some areas could have been cut shorter, without any loss of its artistry or depth. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

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Customer Rating:
Summary: FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE
Comment: very creative in all fields, acting is excellent, color and sound very good historically educationally correct I hope this is what you want. Joe

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Haunting and eerie
Comment: I always remember this film with a sense of haunting. I recently viewed it again and cannot get over that haunting presence of Leslie Cheung (who unfortunately committed suicide himself, just like the characters in several of his films). The way the film ties in with Cheung's character in this film and real-life, even out of character, is strangely eerie and reminiscent of the quote "art imitates reality." Sometimes, reality allow follows suit.

Anyhow, Cheung is definitely the most beautiful and pulling character in the story. (The only thing I did not like about this movie was the killing of a turtle, as I am just very sensitive about things like that.) Otherwise, beautiful and haunting film. I love the Chinese opera the most. It's clever how the themes from the opera also seemed to tie in with the treatment of the Chinese, especially the lines from the opera about the concubine's people being oppressed. At one point, this poignant theme is made very clear while the opera is playing in the midst of Japanese occupation.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Waste of time.
Comment: The movie was way too long and I don't understand how this could have won an academy award. Very overated!

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