Defining Favourites: Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Chen Kaige’s transcendental epic takes us through an intimate journey within the world of Peking Opera.
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Directed by Chen Kaige
Screenplay by Lu Wei, Lilian Lee, from the novel by Lilian Lee
Produced by Hsu Feng
Starring Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, Gong Li
Premiere Date: January 1, 1993
Running Time: 171 minutes
I first saw Farewell My Concubine through a Chinese DVD that I rented through the Toronto Public Library. The English subtitles were not always grammatically correct, but I had a strong desire to see the film in its unedited form, knowing that the initial American home video release had a good chunk of it excised as per the now-imprisoned Harvey Weinstein’s demands. To that end, I simply couldn’t imagine watching Farewell My Concubine any other way, and I’d long dreamed of a Blu-Ray release by a boutique label, whether it be Criterion or Kino Lorber. After so many years of waiting, I’d got more than what I’d wanted after the former had announced it would be released in July of this year, but it’s also getting the 4K UHD treatment.
But how exactly does one talk about the spellbinding feeling of watching Farewell My Concubine, especially when my familiarity with Peking Opera is next to none? The answer, I think, is actually quite simple. The story being told is one that spans generations, capturing Chinese history moving through the early days of the Republic of China and the Cultural Revolution in the twentieth century. All of this of course, is being told through the eyes of Douzi (portrayed as an adult by the late Hong Kong star Leslie Cheung), from his childhood to his adult years as a prominent performer under the name Cheng Dieyi.
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