Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and will endure some of the most troublesome times in China’s history.
Directed by Chen Kaige, “Farewell My Concubine” tells the story of two lifelong friends who meet in an opera training school in Peking in 1924. The travails of Cheng Dieyi (played as an adult by Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Fengyi Zhang) are chronicled from the fall of the emperor warlords to the rise of the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. The approach does an effective job of blending the ups and downs of friendship against the larger historical backdrop of Chinese politics.
The opera school where the two protagonists first meet is a merciless training ground filled with cruel taskmasters who expect nothing less than perfection. Against all odds, Dieyi and Xiaolou emerge as highly popular opera performers due to their ability to win over audiences of all types and political persuasions. Xiaolou plays the king – and, more generally, the masculine parts in their operas – while Dieyi plays the concubine and other female characters.
Gong Li plays Juxian, Xiaolou’s love interest. Her worldly past enables her to counsel both her lover and his best friend Dieyi, though not without a fair amount of conflict and duplicity along the way – a metaphor for the raucous politics in China across the twentieth century.
Most of the soundtrack consists of operatic music and the customarily screechy vocals by Dieyi. The traditional makeup is extremely heavy to enhance the dramatic effect and necessarily relies on the wide, darting eyes of the performers to impact audiences. The movie is clearly aimed at arthouse patrons and, as such, may not appeal to all tastes. The film won numerous Best Foreign Language awards and the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1993. Thirty years later, the original, uncut anniversary edition in 4K restoration will open theatrically on September 22nd.
Much has been written in numerous publications and weblogs regarding this landmark film. Perhaps its greatest significance is that “Farewell My Concubine” was pulled from release in Chinese theaters after only two weeks for censorial review and then banned outright in August. However, international outcry forced the government to resume public showings a month later, albeit with scenes depicting homosexuality and the Cultural Revolution removed. In the uncensored restoration, director Chen Kaige’s long out-of-print adaptation of Lilian Lee’s novel can be seen for the first time since its original opening in Shanghai three decades ago.
For fans of historical epics infusing personal storylines into the mix, “Farewell My Concubine” delivers a solid, thought-provoking production. While not for everyone, this impressive film paints a candid and painful portrait of the tumultuous Chinese past – one not well enough understood or appreciated by the people of the West.
“Farewell My Concubine” will open theatrically at New York’s Film Forum
on September 22nd, with additional markets to follow
