Farewell My Concubine details

Farewell My Concubine
Format: 15 DVD
Starring: Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li
Director: Chen Kaige
Genres: Drama - General, World Cinema - Chinese
Name Discs
Farewell My Concubine
15 Feature

DVD Information

Run time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Rental release: Not currently released
Main languages: Mandarin
Subtitles: English
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Most helpful review Farewell My Concubine

  • Beautiful unconventional

    Rated - 4.0 stars  
    By a customer from Manchester, England , 28 Feb 2005

    [Highly rated reviewer]

    This film is about 2 male actors, who dedicated their life to this particular style of theatre. One always plays the warrior, the other one a concubine.

    They are partner on the stage, but also in life since theatre is their life. A harsh education made them live their roles. A poignant story of two lives entertwined. The film is centered on the characters and their relationship. I won't tell you the end, that would be spoiling it...

    But it is well worth watching.
    • Was this review helpful to you?
    • (21) Yes |
    •  No (1)

All reviews

(5)
  • one of the Best

    Rated - 5.0 stars  
    By AlBertHold (20 reviews) from London , 16 Jul 2009
    This film is outstanding. It follows the relationship of two Bejing Opera stars over more than 50 years, from their hard upbringing to success and hard times during the war period and to final rejection during the Cultural Revolution. While the story of the two men unfolds, the spectator learns about cultural changes and politics in Chinese society. Leslie Cheung is rightly placed to play the tragic character in this movie.
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  • Story telling on an operatic scale

    Rated - 5.0 stars  
    By Zoonie (7 reviews) from London, England , 09 Jun 2009
    it's not by accident that the emotional scale of the human story reflects the setting of the action within the frame of traditional Chinese opera.

    Telling the story of the Chinee cultural revolution through the lives of two children brought up to perform specialised performances from opera, their lives are torn apart by the chaos of Chairman Mao's destruction of tradition.

    I can remember seeing it in the cinema (it will really benefit from a big screen) and was so rapt, I had no notion of how long it was.

    It's a wonderful achievement. Really.
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  • Cinematic Excellence

    Rated - 4.0 stars  
    By catwhiskers (37 reviews) from England , 06 May 2007
    This is an incredibly fine film which breathes class and sophistication in every frame. The acting is superb. The first part of the film concentrates on the male leads as young boys and i found this part particularly heartbreaking and poignant. Their later life also has a story to tell both sad and compelling. This film is a must see. If you dont like foreign films/subtitles this may not be your cup of tea, but you would be missing out on a treat. It is slow paced, but deliberately so as it fully captures the nature of the times in China. I think this film won a BAFTA at its time of release in the early 90's for best foreign film. Richly deserved.
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    • (8) Yes |
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  • A marvel of a film

    Rated - 4.0 stars  
    By a customer from Cheshire , 29 May 2006
    A big film on a big scale. It is moving, classy and just beautiful. The relationship between the two main characters and their careers is fascinating. A must see.
    • Was this review helpful to you?
    • (9) Yes |
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  • Beautiful unconventional

    Rated - 4.0 stars  
    By a customer from Manchester, England , 28 Feb 2005

    [Highly rated reviewer]

    This film is about 2 male actors, who dedicated their life to this particular style of theatre. One always plays the warrior, the other one a concubine.

    They are partner on the stage, but also in life since theatre is their life. A harsh education made them live their roles. A poignant story of two lives entertwined. The film is centered on the characters and their relationship. I won't tell you the end, that would be spoiling it...

    But it is well worth watching.
    • Was this review helpful to you?
    • (21) Yes |
    •  No (1)
 

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