Farewell My Concubine

[Anonymous]

I like the scenes, the make up, and the costumes in the movie, it showed the different period in China's history.I was shocked to see the cruelty and punishment between the Master and the cruelty and punishment between Shitou and Douzi. The film also showed how actors were picked when they were very young. Douzi looks more girl like, the Master decided to train him to take the female part, he wanted Douzi to believe that he was a girl so that he could act out as a girl. When the Master asked Douzi if he was a boy or a girl, Douzi answere that he was a boy, Douzi was bitten harshly until he said that he was a girl. The film showed the dedication of Douzi to the opera, like cutting off of an extra finger, and committing suicide because the line was said incorrectly again.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Farewell My Concubine was filmed in 1993 by Chen Kaige. It remains to date the only Chinese-language film to win the Cannes Palme d'Or. The movie is excellent, the acting, the music, cinematography, and makeup is exceptional. The film is a melodrama that emphasizes China's political turmoil during a fifty-three year period between 1924 and 1977 which affected the lives of individuals, families, and groups of people, which in this case is the Peking opera troupe and the prostitute that crossed both their lives. In most summaries I have read of this movie it indicates the woman, Juxian, is the woman who comes between them. After viewing the movie, I have to disagree as I don't think Dieyi or Xiaolou would have ever been together, as far as an affair. I think an unsaid or underlying in the movie is a line in the movie, " Fate has determined each of our lots", which is said through-out the movie. This movie shows love between people and also the love of the Opera, and how people dedicated their lives to it, betrayal, ideological views of people regarding prostitution, smoking opium, change of political parties and loyalty of people, the change of old society views of Opera to the new communists party, and finally death to those who felt ultimately and tragically betrayed. The movie begins with the actual end 1977 where the primary character enter into a theatre they begin practicing with the line that gave Douzi trouble forty years previously and he again say's it incorrecty as he did forty years ago. The next scene jumps to 1924 where Douzi's mother leaves him crying with a bloody hand where an extra finger was cut-off. Douzi and Shitou become friends immediately and years go by with cruelty and punishment between the Master and from each other. A poignant moment in the film is when a visitor is visiting the troupe house with the promise of roles. Shitou is trained to play Dan (female) roles. Douzi and Shitou have become the best of friends and Douzi assits in his memorizing the monologue "Dreaming of the World Outside the Nunnery" when he practicing the monologue he says, "I am by nauture a girl, not a boy" he says "I am by nature a boy" which embarassed the entire troupe so for punishment to his best frined Xiaolou gets a stick and forces it into Douzi's mouth causing his mouth to bleed. The agent begins to leave with the future of the troupe at risk. After he has gargled enough of his blood, a soft whisper of, "I am by nature a girl...not a boy" is spoken with blood dripping from his mouth. He had gotten the line correct and everyone cheered with a sense of relief and acknowledgment was made that Shitou was a promising actor. In the next scenes both Douzi and Shitou are stars of the Beijing Opera where Douzi for most of his life has been trained to think of himself as a woman and act as a woman to dedicate himself completely to his role for the sake of perfecting it. He is insecure, selfish and a vulnerable man that loved his life long friend Shitou. Shitou on the other hand is a bravado type of man that becomes caught up in his character he does not understand how Douzi becomes caught up in his role as a woman and lives his life in meeting and marrying a prostitute. A line I noted in the film is when he tells Douzi, "You are really obsessed with the opera".
The film makes a point to indicate the periods and change in political power which is reflected in the way the Beijing Opera is represented or regarded as part of the people and it's political culture. It begins in the Gang Four/Cultural Revolution. 1924 - Warlord Era. 1937 approximately during the Japanese invasion of Northern Japan. Also the Japanese surrender Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist Army retakes Beijing. 1949 - The Communist People's Liberation Army enters Beijing. The final scene begins again as in the very beginning of the film where two of the best known Beijing Opera stars enter and begin practing their lines as from many years previously......the line is said incorrectly again and as Shitou corrects him Douzi cuts his throat as in the original Opera, for possibly once in his life, happy and content with the love of his life.
Based on the ledtures from our class this is the typical ending in an Asian movie.....dramatic and unexpected, I loved it! 2 thumbs up!!! Cathie Roberson, movie critic.

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