Review of Farewell My Concubine (1993) by Xing W — 03 Nov 2009

Farewell My Concubine is an excellent, historical epic on the life of two actors as they grow up in the Beijing Opera in China. Douzi and Shitou are two children trust into the torture that personifies the Chinese Opera Houses of the 1920s. The children are regularly beaten, some nearly to death, and forced to do physical tasks beyond their capabilities, all for the hope of becoming a great actor. Douzi and Shitou undergo all of these things and more. Douzi is basically punished until he perceives his own gender as that of a female, so that he can properly play his female roles. The story follows the life of these two men into adulthood as they become famous actors, now known as Dieyi and Xialou. Fate and obsession entangles these men, and as they perform more and more, Dieyi slips out of reality, and perceives life to be like the opera.

The film is fantastic. The actors and actresses play their roles excellently, showing particular talent in their portrayal of a ?play within a play? as each opera passes. Leslie Cheung?s role as Dieyi is incredibly well depicted. He feels like a female, his voice, body movements, and posture all contribute to this. The cinematography uses space well, and is overall an excellently crafted part of the feature. However, I think the most vital asset of the film is its well rendered plot. Showing a period of character development over 50 years is no minimal task, it is very difficult to do, and I believe that the director was successful in developing his characters and making the plot hold audience interest. I did feel some intense emotion during the film, particularly in its beginning when the Chinese Opera House?s horrors were revealed. The script is good, but after 2 hours begins to lose power, and the music ranges from powerful to background, not playing a heavy role in the film?s emotion. Basically I feel that the film was a bit overlong.

The film was incredibly well done, and I liked it very much. It is historically accurate and emotionally driving, and is only hindered by its? over length. I will most definitely recommend this staple of Chinese cinema to anyone willing to watch it. I give Farewell My Concubine 7.8 stars out of 10.