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In Chen Kaige's adaptation of the Lilian Lee novel, Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Fengyi Zhang) grow up enduring the harsh training of the Peking Opera Academy, where instructors regularly beat the children as a means of instilling in them the discipline needed to master the complex physical and vocal technique. As the two boys mature, they develop complementary talents: Dieyi, with his fine, delicate features, assumes the female roles while the burlier Xiaolou plays masculine warlords. Their dramatic identities become real for Dieyi when he falls in love with Xiaolou; the resolutely heterosexual Xiaolou, however, marries a courtesan, Juxian (Gong Li), creating a dangerous, jealousy-filled romantic triangle. (official distributor synopsis)
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A very intense film where you wouldn't expect it to be one of the best blends of personal drama, human drama, and societal drama. But that's exactly what you get from it, and on top of that, you also have very powerful scenes that are capable of etching themselves into your memory for a long time. A film that doesn't let you catch your breath.
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Life – masks – theatre. Chinese actors’ relationship to Chinese opera and Chinese opera’s relationship to the rest of society during five decades of Chinese history. Thanks to the colourfulness and composition of the shots, Farewell My Concubine is a captivating work that is not in any way harmed by its length. On the contrary, after an hour I had become accustomed to the different cultural environment and began to get into the story. The film contains historical facts, but they are less important than the atmosphere of the given era and opera’s significance within it. After the opening training of the future artists and the closing brutal suppression of one theatre by another (communist), this visually poetic film is not in any way indebted to China’s reputation as a harsh land. 80%
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