The Last Emperor
Academy Award × 9
Rent/Purchase
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
What critics thought
Bertolucci's epic divides critics most cleanly on whether its protagonist ever generates genuine dramatic tension — the film is widely acknowledged as a visual and logistical marvel, filmed inside the Forbidden City with extraordinary scope, but a recurring complaint is that Pu Yi remains curiously passive and emotionally elusive at its center. Where critics agree is on the sheer grandeur of the production and John Lone's remarkable ability to hold the screen despite that passivity.
“the narrative cannot be separated from the awesome presence of the Forbidden City, and from Bertolucci's astonishing use of locations, authentic costumes, and thousands of extras to create the everyday reality of this strange little boy.”
Roger Ebert·The Chicago Sun-Times
“The Last Emperor incidentally and secondarily does that too; but it also teaches us something about the lives of a billion people with whom we share this planet—and better yet, makes us want to learn still more about them.”
Jonathan Rosenbaum·Chicago Reader
Genres
Biography, Drama, History
Cast & Crew
DirectorBernardo Bertolucci
StarringJohn Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying, Victor Wong
ComposerRyuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne
The Last Emperor
Academy Award × 9
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
What critics thought
Bertolucci's epic divides critics most cleanly on whether its protagonist ever generates genuine dramatic tension — the film is widely acknowledged as a visual and logistical marvel, filmed inside the Forbidden City with extraordinary scope, but a recurring complaint is that Pu Yi remains curiously passive and emotionally elusive at its center. Where critics agree is on the sheer grandeur of the production and John Lone's remarkable ability to hold the screen despite that passivity.
“the narrative cannot be separated from the awesome presence of the Forbidden City, and from Bertolucci's astonishing use of locations, authentic costumes, and thousands of extras to create the everyday reality of this strange little boy.”
Roger Ebert·The Chicago Sun-Times
“The Last Emperor incidentally and secondarily does that too; but it also teaches us something about the lives of a billion people with whom we share this planet—and better yet, makes us want to learn still more about them.”
Jonathan Rosenbaum·Chicago Reader
Genres
Biography, Drama, History
Cast & Crew
DirectorBernardo Bertolucci
StarringJohn Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying, Victor Wong
ComposerRyuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne
Rent/Purchase