Farewell My Concubine (film)
Farewell My Concubine is a 1993 Chinese historical drama film directed by Chen Kaige, starring Leslie Cheung, Gong Li, and Zhang Fengyi. An adaptation of the novel by Lilian Lee, the film is set in a politically tumultuous China during the 20th century, from the early days of the Republic of China to the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. It chronicles the troubled relationships between two Peking opera actors and lifelong friends Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou, and Xiaolou's wife Juxian. The movie is about confusion of identity and blurred lines between real life and the stage, portrayed by the revered opera actor Dieyi, whose unrequited love for Xiaolou persists through the movie. Scholar Ying notes that in order "o attract the international audience, Chinese history and Peking Opera are drawn close while homosexuality, individual perversities and moral dilemmas are transposed distant". Commentators also noted themes of political and societal disturbances in 20th-century China, which is typical of the Chinese Fifth Generation cinema.
Farewell My Concubine premiered on January 1, 1993, in Hong Kong. Upon release, the film received generally positive reviews from contemporary critics and won the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first Chinese-language film to achieve the honour. It further won accolades including a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and a BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language, and received two nominations at the 66th Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film. The film was initially removed from theatres and banned in Mainland China—for less than two months—because of its depiction of homosexuality and suicide. Farewell My Concubine is considered one of the landmark films of the Fifth Generation movement that brought Chinese film directors to world attention.
Plot
Douzi, a boy endowed with feminine features, is abandoned by his prostitute mother to an all-boys Peking opera troupe supervised by Master Guan. He befriends Shitou, a student of the troupe.A few years later in 1938, a teenage Douzi is trained to play dan, while Shitou learns jing. When practicing the play "Dreaming of the World Outside the Nunnery", Douzi intentionally substitutes the line "I am by nature a girl, not a boy" with "I am by nature a boy, not a girl," subjecting himself to severe physical punishments. Douzi along with another student, Laizi, attempt to run away, but Douzi decides to pursue acting seriously after witnessing an opera performance. Upon returning, they find the whole troupe being punished for their desertion, and Douzi is beaten. As a result, Laizi hangs himself.
An agent who provides funding for opera plays comes to the troupe to seek potentials. When Douzi repeats the same mistake in front of the agent, Shitou commands him to start over. Douzi finally whispers, "I am by nature a girl, not a boy". He delivers the entire monologue successfully, to the joy of the troupe, and secures the agent. The troupe is invited to perform for eunuch Zhang. Shitou and Douzi are brought to Zhang's house where they find a finely crafted sword, which Shitou promises to one day gift to Douzi, as the hero would do for his concubine. Zhang asks to meet Douzi in his room and sexually assaults him. Douzi does not mention this to anyone, but Shitou implicitly knows what happened. On their way home, Douzi adopts an abandoned baby, who later comes under Master Guan's training.
.
Years go by, Douzi and Shitou become Peking opera stars under stage names Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou, respectively. Their signature performance is the play Farewell My Concubine, where Dieyi plays the concubine Consort Yu and Xiaolou plays the hero Xiang Yu. Their fame attracts the attention of Yuan Shiqing, a reputable person who attends their performances. Yuan Shiqing also possesses a sword similar to the one that Dieyi and Xiaolou found, which he gives to Dieyi. The adult Dieyi has an unrequited love for Xiaolou, but when Xiaolou marries Juxian, a headstrong courtesan at an upscale brothel, Dieyi and Xiaolou's relationship begins to fall apart. The love triangle between Dieyi, Xiaolou, and Juxian leads to jealousy and betrayal, which is further complicated by the successive political upheavals following the Second Sino-Japanese War. When Master Guan dies, the abandoned baby, now Xiao Si, comes under Dieyi's training to continue learning dan roles.
When the communist forces win the civil war, Xiao Si becomes an avid follower of the new government. Dieyi's addiction to opium negatively affects his performances, but he ultimately rehabilitates with the help of Xiaolou and Juxian. Xiao Si nurtures resentment against Dieyi because of his rigorous teachings and usurps his role in Farewell My Concubine during one performance, without anyone telling Dieyi beforehand. Devastated by the betrayal, Dieyi secludes himself and refuses to reconcile with Xiaolou. As the Cultural Revolution continues, the entire opera troupe is put on a struggle session by the Red Guards where, under pressure, Dieyi and Xiaolou accuse each other of counterrevolutionary acts. Dieyi also tells the guards that Juxian was a prostitute. To protect himself from further prosecution, Xiaolou swears that he does not love her and will "make a clean break" with her. Juxian is heartbroken and returns the sword to Dieyi before committing suicide. Afterward, Xiao Si is caught by the Red Guards when he is singing Consort Yu's lines to the mirror alone in a practice room.
In 1977, Dieyi and Xiaolou reunite, seeming to have mended their relationship. They once again practice Farewell My Concubine; Xiaolou begins with the line "I am by nature a boy," to which Dieyi makes the same mistake of finishing with "I am not a girl." In the final scene, Dieyi takes Xiaolou's sword and cuts his throat, paralleling the concubine's final act in the opera.
Cast
Production
Chen Kaige was first given a copy of Lilian Lee's novel in 1988, and although Chen found the story of the novel to be "compelling", he found the emotional subtext of the novel "a bit thin". After meeting with Lee, they recruited Chinese writer Lu Wei for the screenplay, and in 1991 the first draft of the screenplay came about. The director chose the heroic suicide of Dieyi over original story’s banality in order to present the “Lie nu” image of Dieyi to emphasize the women’s liberation which was commonly found in the Fifth Generation films.Hong Kong actor Leslie Cheung was used in the film to attract audiences because melodramas were not a popular genre. It was believed that it was the first film where Cheung spoke Mandarin Chinese. However, for most of the movie Cheung's voice is dubbed by Beijing actor Yang Lixin. Director Chen left Cheung's original voice in two scenes, where Cheung's voice is distorted by physical and mental distress. Due to Gong Li's international stardom, she was cast as one of the main characters in the film.
Historical background
The historical background of the film is multi-layered and complicated, which contributes to the motif and the form of the film. The 90s period saw China trying to do "damage control" to the country's image after the massacre that happened during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. David Shambaugh talks about the government's new agenda that focused on "restoring the appearance of unity in the leadership, ensuring the loyalty of the military, reestablishing social order, reasserting central control over the provinces, recentralizing and retrenching the economy, and redefining China's role in a post-Cold War international environment". In addition to the mentioned changes in the political climate, at the time of the film's release, the atmosphere around the criticism of Cultural Revolution shifted. As Luo Hui notes "criticizing the Cultural Revolution had become permissible, even fashionable", allowing the film to highlight the devastation the world of art, as well as other aspects of Chinese society like medicine and education, suffered at the hands of the Cultural Revolution movement.Release
Release in China
The film premiered in Shanghai in July 1993 but was removed from theatres after two weeks for further censorial review and subsequently banned in August. The film was objected to for its portrayal of homosexuality, suicide, and violence perpetrated under Mao Zedong's Communist government during the Cultural Revolution. Because the film won the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, the ban was met with international outcry. Feeling there was "no choice" and fearing it hurt China's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics, officials allowed the film to resume public showings in September. This release featured a censored version; scenes dealing with the Cultural Revolution and homosexuality were cut, and the final scene was revised to "soften the blow of the suicide".Box office and reception
The film was released to three theaters on 15 October 1993, and grossed $69,408 in the opening weekend. Its final grossing in the US market is $5,216,888.In 2005, some 25,000 Hong Kong film-enthusiasts voted it their favorite Chinese-language film of the century.
Nationalistic expression and international audience
The international perspective of the movie were put into question by critics who are concerned that the visual and artistic settings in the movie are too culturally inherent. On the other hand, the contents are internationally applicable. The enriching contexts, symbols, and political icons are turned into colorful Oriental spectacles that arouse Westerner's fantasies. China's image is used as an object of signification, a cultural exhibition on display and a major selling point. Thus, they charge the movie for dancing to the tunes set forth by the Western cultural imaginary about China.Some critics point to the fact that Chen lives in the United States, which have provided him with overall understanding of international reception and engineered the movie to fit a domestic and international audience. Chen knows how to tell a more comprehensible story to Westerners. Chen understands the international audience's perceptions and attitudes towards Chinese history, and sexuality.
Miramax edited version
At the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, the film was awarded the highest prize, the Palme d'Or. Miramax Films mogul Harvey Weinstein purchased the distribution rights and removed fourteen minutes, resulting in a 157-minute cut. This is the version seen in U.S. theaters. According to Peter Biskind's book, Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film, Louis Malle, who was president of the Cannes jury that year, said: "The film we admired so much in Cannes is not the film seen in this country , which is twenty minutes shorter – but seems longer because it doesn't make any sense. It was better before those guys made cuts."The uncut 171-minute version has been released by Miramax on DVD.
Music and soundtrack
| Song Type | Name | composer | lyrics | singer | - |
| Theme song | Bygone Love | Jonathan Lee | Jonathan Lee | Orginal Singer: Sandy Lam; Jonathan Lee MV Director: Xueer Qu
| - |
| Episode | Don't get it | Jonathan Lee | Lin Huang | Jonathan LeeMV Director: Kaige Chen
| - |
| Episode | Zu Guo Song | Xin Wang | Xin Wang | ||
| Episode | March of Chinese PLA | Lvchen Zheng | Mu Gong | ||
| Episode | Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman | Shuangyin Wang | Yuwen Li |
Reception
Critical reception
awarded the film four stars, praising the plot as "almost unbelievably ambitious" and executed with "freedom and energy". The New York Times critic Vincent Canby hailed it for "action, history, exotic color", positively reviewing the acting of Gong Li, Leslie Cheung and Zhang Fengyi. In New York, David Denby criticized the "spectacle" but felt it would be worthy of excelling in international cinema, portraying a triumph of love and culture despite dark moments. Hal Hinson, writing for The Washington Post, highlighted "its swooning infatuation with the theater- with its colors, its vitality and even its cruel rigors". Desson Howe was less positive, writing the first half had impact but gives way to "novel-like meandering", with less point.The film was included in The New York Times list of The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made in 2004 and Times list of Best Movies of All Time in 2005. It was ranked 97 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010, and No. 1 in Time Out's "100 Best Mainland Chinese Films" feature in 2014. The film has an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 34 reviews. The BBC placed the film at number 12 on its 2018 list of the 100 greatest foreign language films. It ranked at number 55 on the Hong Kong Film Awards Association 's list of the Best 100 Chinese-Language Motion Pictures in 2005. Regarding public reception, Farewell My Concubine topped a 2005 poll of the most beloved films in Hong Kong conducted by Handerson ArtReach.
Year-end lists
- 6th – Joan Vadeboncoeur, Syracuse Herald American
- Top 10 – Dennis King, Tulsa World
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | |
| 1993 | Boston Society of Film Critics | Best Foreign Language Film | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1993 | Camerimage | Silver Frog | Gu Changwei | ||
| 1993 | Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1993 | Cannes Film Festival | FIPRESCI Prize | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1993 | Los Angeles Film Critics Association | Best Foreign Language Film | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1993 | National Board of Review | Best Foreign Language Film | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1993 | National Board of Review | Top Foreign Language Films | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1993 | New York Film Critics Circle | Best Foreign Language Film | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1993 | New York Film Critics Circle | Best Supporting Actress | Li Gong | ||
| 1994 | Academy Awards | Best Foreign Language Film | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1994 | Academy Awards | Best Cinematography | Gu Changwei | ||
| 1994 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Film not in the English Language | Hsu Feng, Chen Kaige | ||
| 1994 | César Awards | Best Foreign Film | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1994 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Foreign Language Film | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1994 | London Film Critics' Circle | Best Foreign Language Film | Chen Kaige | ||
| 1994 | Mainichi Film Awards | Best Foreign Language Film | Chen Kaige |