The Last Emperor [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Overview

The Last Emperor is the true story of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi, the last ruler of the Chinese Ching Dynasty. Told in flashback, the film covers the years 1908 to 1967. We first see the three-year-old Pu Yi being installed in the Forbidden City by ruthless, dying dowager Empress Tzu-Hsui (Lisa Lu). Though he'd prefer to lark about like other boys, the infant emperor is cossetted and cajoled into accepting the responsibilities and privileges of his office. In 1912, the young emperor (Tijer Tsou) forced to abdicate when China is declared a republic, is a prisoner in his own palace, "protected" from the outside world. Fascinated by the worldliness of his Scottish tutor (Peter O'Toole), Pu Yi plots an escape from his cocoon by means of marriage. He selects Manchu descendant Wan Jung (Joan Chen), who likewise is anxious to experience the 20th century rather than be locked into the past by tradition. Played as an adult by John Lone, Pu Yi puts into effect several social reforms, and also clears the palace of the corrupt eunuchs who've been shielding him from life. In 1924, an invading warlord expels the denizens of the Forbidden City, allowing Pu Yi to "westernize" himself by embracing popular music and the latest dances as a guest of the Japanese Concession in Tientsin. Six years later, his power all but gone, Pu Yi escapes to Manchuria, where he unwittingly becomes a political pawn for the now-militant Japanese government. Humiliating his faithful wife, Pu Yi falls into bad romantic company, carrying on affairs with a variety of parasitic females. During World War II, the Japanese force Pu Yi to sign a series of documents which endorse their despotic military activities. At war's end, the emperor is taken prisoner by the Russians; while incarcerated, he is forced to fend for himself without servants at his beck and call for the first time. He is finally released in 1959 and displayed publicly as proof of the efficacy of Communist re-education. We last see him in 1967, the year of his death; now employed by the State as a gardener, Pu Yi makes one last visit to the Forbidden City...as a tourist. Bernardo Bertolucci's first film after a six-year self-imposed exile, The Last Emperor was released in two separate versions: the 160-minute theatrical release, and a 4-hour TV miniseries. Lensed on location, the film won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/30/2014
UPC:	0715515135719
Original Release:	1987
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Sales rank:	450

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Lone	Pu Yi
Joan Chen	Wan Jung,Capital of Imperial Guard
Peter O'Toole	Reginald Johnston
Ying Ruocheng	Governor
Victor Wong	Chen Pao Shen
Dennis Dun	Big Li
Ryuichi Sakamoto	Masahiko Amakasu
Maggie Han	Eastern Jewel
Ric Young	Interrogator
Wu Jun Mei	Wen Hsiu
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	Chang
Jade Go	Ar Mo
Fumihiko Ikeda	Yoshioka
Richard Vuu	Pu Yi (age 3)
Tijger Tsou	Pu Yi (age 8)
Wu Tao	Pu Yi (age 15)
Fan Guang	Pu Chieh,Japanese Bodyguard
Henry Kyi	Pu Chieh (age 7)
Alvin Riley III	Pu Chieh (age 14)
Lisa Lu	Tzu Hsui, The Empress Dowager
Hideo Takamatsu	Gen. Ishikari
Hajime Tachibana	Japanese Translator
Basil Pao	Prince Chun
Jian Xireng	Lord Chamberlain
Zhang Liangbin	Big Foot
Huang Wenjie	Hunchback
Pan Hung	Li Shu Xian
LiDien Lang	Empress Wan Rung
Liang Dong	Lady Aisin-Gioro
Dong Zhendong	Old Doctor
Dong Jiechen	Doctor
Constantine Gregory	Oculist
Soong Huaikuei	Lung Yu
Shao Ruzhen	First High Consort
Li Yu	Second High Consort
Li Guangli	Third High Consort
LiDien Xing	Li Yu Qin
Xu Chunqing	Grey Eyes
Zhang Tianmin	Old Tutor
Luo Hongnian	Sleeping Old Tutor
Yang Baozong	Gen. Yuan Shikai
Cai Hongxiang	Scarface
Yu Shihong	Hsiao Hsiu
Wu Jun	Wen Hsiu (age 12)
Lucia Hwong	Lady of the Book
Cui Jingping	Lady of the Pen
Wu Hai	Republican Officer
Gu Junguo	Tang
Xu Tongrui	Captain of Feng's Army
Li Fusheng	Minister of Trade
Chen Shu	Chang Chinghui
Cheng Shuyan	Lady Hiro Saga
Zhang Lingmu	Emperor Hirohito
Luo Shigang	Chang Ching Hui's Secretary
Zhang Daxing	Tough Warder
Zu Ruigang	Second Warder
Jin Yuan	Party Boss
Akira Ikuta	Japanese Doctor
Cui Xinmin	Japanese Bodyguard
Li Zhenduo	Dignitary
Yang Hongchang	Scribe
Wang Biao	Prisoner
Michael Vermaaten	American
Matthew Spender	Englishman
Martin Reynolds	Englishman
Rio Ruocheng	Actor
Liangbin Zhang	Big Foot
David Byrne	Composer
Cong Su	Composer

Technical Credits

Bernardo Bertolucci

Mark Peploe

Bernardo Bertolucci	Director,Screenwriter
Mark Peploe	Screenwriter
Jeremy Thomas	Producer
Gianetto De Rossi	Special Effects
Fabrizio Martinelli	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

Bernardo Bertolucci's lush telling of the life and times of "Henry" Pu Yi (John Lone), China's last emperor, is an old-fashioned epic in the tradition of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, a history lesson, and an art-house film rolled into one. The result? A classic movie that garnered eight Oscars, including Best Picture. Told in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards, the film follows Pu Yi's metamorphosis from pampered royal to free-thinking rebel to everyman citizen of the People's Republic. Standout performances include Peter O'Toole as the Scottish tutor who teaches Pu Yi about the outside world and Joan Chen as the beautiful young woman whom Pu Yi marries. Bertolucci, himself a Communist, wants us to believe in the film's gray, Mao-suited present tense, but the swooning beauty of the flashbacks stands as its own rebuff. Granted access to the Forbidden City (the first Westerners to be so honored), Bertolucci and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro created a visually stunning film, with rich, sensuous images that evoke a vanished world.

Barnes & Noble - Rachel Saltz

In this unprecedented Sino-Western co-production, Bernardo Bertolucci turned the strange life of final Chinese crown ruler Pu Yi into a sumptuous epic. Shooting on location in China in the first Western production allowed to film in Beijing's Forbidden City, Bertolucci spent $25 million on lavish sets and costumes, as well as a cast of thousands, for a story spanning six decades, from Pu Yi's 1908 coronation to his 1960s life as a poor civilian. The story is structured through flashback memories as Pu Yi comes to grips with existence as a villain and commoner under Communism, and Vittorio Storaro's exquisite cinematography subtly underscores the emperor's rise and fall by shifting from a palette rich in reds, oranges, and yellows for Pu Yi's imperial years to somber blues and grays for his exile and imprisonment. Despite critical complaints that the story was lacking in emotional involvement, many viewers agreed that Bertolucci had created another visual marvel. Nominated for nine Oscars, The Last Emperor scored an unexpected sweep, winning all nine, including Best Picture and Best Director. An hour of footage cut from the release version was restored in the 1998 theatrical reissue reedited by Bertolucci.

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola