The Last Emperor

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The Last Emperor

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The Last Emperor

John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ric Young, Vivian Wu, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Jade Go, Fumihiko Ikeda, Tao Wu, Guang Fan, Lisa Lu

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 ...( read more  read more... )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.

Id: 10603710

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The Last Emperor Recent Reviews
  • hypathio7
    July 6, 2009
    hypathio7
    First, let me recommend the Director's Cut though it is 3 hours and 20 minutes. There is so much historical and political content that I found a second viewing helpful too. The costumes, sets, cinematography, and music are all sumptuous.

    The movie covers almost 60 years of C...( read more)hinese history from the perspective of one person. The last emperor, Pu Yi, lived through so much history during the first half of the 20th century. I don't know how much of the story is completely historically accurate, but the changes of the decades and major historical events seem to be presented authentically. The story reminded me at certain points of the movie and book, The Good Earth. While that story shows some of the cultural changes in Chinese history from the perspective of peasants out in the fields, this story is told mainly from within the walls of the Forbidden City or the walls of a Communist re-education camp. There is a strong imprisonment theme! The story is told in flashbacks, and I thought this device was well crafted with interesting parallels.

    Pu Yi's life is incredibly tragic and yet I found all the drama enthralling. He becomes Emperor at 3 years old and so hasn't formed any ideas for himself. Even later in his life you can't really say that he ever gained much experience as a leader. Earlier in China's history this might have worked out better to have a leader start so young without much conflict, but with all the changes preparing to take place in the 20th century it is inevitable that Pu Yi would become a tragic figure. He becomes spoiled because every want and need is taken care of for him. He's a puppet controlled by many others through his life. Early in his life China becomes a Republic and he no longer has any real power, but traditions stay the same inside the Forbidden City. Just before WWI O'Toole arrives as a Western tutor and Pu Yi begins to learn about the modern world. Eventually he tries to reform the traditions of imperial China, but he still takes a wife and a consort (a second wife). China then becomes a Communist country and some people turn against the Manchurian part of northern China. Since Manchurian is the Emperor's heritage, he and his remaining staff are kicked out of the Forbidden City. He ends up being welcomed by Japan in the early 30's before WWII and they feed him some misinformation. At this point he still craves the power of being Emperor and there is a lot of political intrigue as Manchuria becomes independent (but, Japan is really pulling the strings). He has relationship issues with his wife and consort, one feeling like a third wheel in the more westernized Japan and the other becoming addicted to opium. After WWII the Communist powers in China change a bit and in 1950 we catch up to the "current" events where Pu Yi and all the other imperial supporters are being re-educated. Ying gives an impressive performance and human face to the "Governor" of the camp. It is an amazing, in depth, dramatic conflict from the American audience perspective when you realize that Pu Yi was working with the Japanese, one of the Axis powers of WWII, and the Communists are trying to turn him into a comrade. Between a rock and a hard place. There's a good portion of Americans that wouldn't see either side of this conflict as worth cheering for. But still I found it very engaging to watch John Lone portray the struggle.

    One of my favorite quotes: The Governor- "You are responsible for what you do! All your life you thought you were better than everyone else. Now you think you're the worst of all!" There's also a quote about how all the new generals and changes in the communist regime are just like the battling war lords of tribal society. There's a sense that the differences between the old and young in society will lead to history repeating itself, and in fact power keeps on shifting but nothing in history really changes.
  • AgentLexi2132
    December 10, 2008
    AgentLexi2132
    ''All your life you thought you were better than everyone else. Now you think you're the worst of all!''

    He was the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, the absolute monarch of China. He was born to rule a world of ancient tradition. Nothing prepared him for our world of change.

    ...( read more) The story of the final Emperor of China.

    John Lone: Emperor Pu Yi / Henry

    One could state Bernardo Bertolucci creation of a masterpiece on an era of history that would definitely change the relationship of nations throughout the era forever, is putting it mildly to say the least. That he did it with such artistic factual film-making is to say his success was close to the divine.
    You may conclude that would be a quite accurate statement about The Last Emperor, especially for American film-making, they had nothing to do with it.
    To amass such a huge cast today would put many nations into immediate expenditures and losses, much less movie-producers. Every scene is detailed to utter faultless finesse, the reign of the last emperor of China wasn't that long ago, so there were unlimited sources up for grabs. That they were made available and especially shooting on location in The Forbidden City with the approval of the communist government of Peking in the 1980s is even more fantastical. After centuries of the Qing emperors' rulings, for this gigantic nation to change its manner of governing is mind blowing. One would assume China would just as soon deny that year of its history, mirroring Japan denying a fair few if not all, Asian atrocities.

    ''The Emperor has been a prisoner in his own palace since the day that he was crowned, and has remained a prisoner since he abdicated. But now he's growing up, he may wonder why he's the only person in China who may not walk out of his own front door. I think the Emperor is the loneliest boy on Earth.''

    The Last Emperor is an epic that delves into the seas of Time and the ensuing effects it has on a being and his culture as time transitions through his lifetime. The Last Emperor of the Qing dynasty, Pu-Yi, was appointed in 1909 at the age of three and due to his youth ended up being a puppet to his administration. Bertolucci successfully shows us a young man who while understandably spoilt by many luxuries of monarchy, is in truth, a tender hearted, independent thinker, who is passionate about his homeland(Manchuria) and has a ravenous desire for experiencing life in the outside world.
    His caged lifestyle in the Forbidden City (Beijing) is definitely a major contributor. From his infancy the director takes us through a chain of historical events that ultimately lead to Pu-Yi being an ordinary man (we know this from the beginning, however flashbacks explain his situation at the start). However, it is not the desired lifestyle that he sought as an Emperor in childhood.

    Last Emperor is breathtaking in its cinematography and Bertolucci's direction flawless like a newly cut diamond. Upon research, a lot of criticism was directed at his film 1900 (1976) due to its sheer length. The Last Emperor runs in at 215 minutes(DIRECTORS CUT) and barring 10 minutes of a marriage related scene, it never relinquishes. Bertolucci seamlessly interweaves the flashbacks with Pu-Yi's situation in post-WWII China by providing us with a real life tragedy that epitomizes human weaknesses, vices, love and loyalty. Here is a film that is a true story but goes beyond mere narration or simple depiction, it is a three and a half hour, non-stop attention grasping journey through the spectrum of humanity that defines our lifetime through the eyes of an unfortunate soul who was a victim of circumstances like many are. Any questions that the viewer will have concerning an event in the plot will be immediately answered through the rich tapestry that Bertolucci shows when depicting Pu-Yi's imperial life.

    Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: Words are important.
    Pu Yi, at 15: Why are words important?
    Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: If you cannot say what you mean, your majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says.

    On a technical note, the acting in this film is brilliant. John Lone deserved at least an Oscar nomination for best actor due to his seamless portrayal of Pu-Yi. He makes his portrayal of a 21 - 60 year old Pu-Yi seem like an effortless feat. Through his performance the audience feels an even greater compassion for the last emperor as we come across a man who despite all the hardships he endured was very compassionate and soft centered underneath layers of enigmatic stillness. The sheer down to earth nature of his character as a 55-60 year old who walks with a tired smile, forever accompanied by his loving brother, is a testament to Lone's ability to portray any age and move the audience.
    Once again, it takes a Hailey's comet like event for the Academy to nominate someone from the eastern world (or non-British, non-American when it comes to best actor). The rest of the cast is also brilliant barring Ryuichi Sakamoto (who portrays the one-armed Masahiko Amakasu) who, for the most part, presents us with a classic display of Japanese overacting. Although I wouldn't call it overacting in a Kurasawa-esque/Japanese film environment, it becomes quite hilarious in a production such as this.

    The film won a number of Oscars, including the awards for Best Picture and Best Director.
    What surprised me was that it did not receive a single Oscar nomination in the acting categories, although in my view it could have had three or four, Best Actor for John Lone as Pu Yi himself, Best Actress for Joan Chen as his tragic, drug-addicted Empress Wan Jung, and Best Supporting Actor for Peter O'Toole as Pu Yi's Scottish tutor Reginald Johnstone (and possibly also for Ying Ruocheng as the prison governor). Around the time this film was released, the lovely Joan Chen was widely tipped to become a major Hollywood star; that she has never really done so might suggest that leading roles for Oriental actresses are as hard to come by as they were in the days of Anna May Wong.

    So ultimately what does Pu Yi contribute to his life? His is littered with the bodies of those that have come into contact with him, a morbid graveyard created from deaths that did not come from his hands, but from his ego and his power.
    My inability to either love or hate him if anything makes him quite human. If he had been blatantly set up as an obvious protagonist or antagonist, the movie would have been flat, shallow. Humans are hard things to find in movies these days, and here is a rare opportunity to catch a sight of one. Hats off to Bertolucci for such an intelligent film and a journey of a lifetime.

    ''Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!... Open the door!''
  • johnd62
    August 7, 2008
    johnd62
    Well there are two good things I can say about The Last Emperor, it a visually stunning film. The sets, costumes and camera work is nothing short of brilliant and I have to respect how close they paid attention to the details of Pu-Yi life. Now here is where the problems come, di...( read more)rector/writer Bernardo Bertolucci uses the film's epic look to hide the film's lack of a compelling story and acting or anything else that could give this film a epic feeling. Not a terrible film but this 3 hour special on the history channel really doesn't deserve a best picture win.
  • hobster1
    June 27, 2008
    hobster1
    It certainly looks good, but I defy you to stay awake during this 218 minute snoozefest. Perhaps the editor fell asleep too.
  • BiologyBabe2012
    June 1, 2008
    BiologyBabe2012
    There are more than enough reasons to like this movie. One of them is the very expressive John Lone (as Pu Yi), who somehow manages to play the same character over 30 or 40 years effectively.

    It has it's arty aspects (of the beneficial sort), but there aren't too many ro...( read more)lling landscape shots (not enough to make you scream, anyway).

    The one flaw is that the Chinese atmosphere is slightly warped by the movie being in English. But I award an extra half star for the music. Especially the track playing on the dvd menu.

    Verdict: Bertolucci is a master of his occupation.
  • kairy
    November 12, 2009
    kairy
    A great biopic, a must see.
  • christiano717
    November 9, 2009
    christiano717
    Stunning. Just beautiful, careful and delicate.
  • mrchewbacca
    November 4, 2009
    mrchewbacca
    una autentica belleza
  • jackgbowman
    October 16, 2009
    jackgbowman
    drags, very beautifully shot, but way too long.
  • ElCochran90
    September 22, 2009
    ElCochran90
    Bertolucci's tries another perspective and succeeds wonderfully. Not his best, but definitely not his worst either. Director's cut: Way to go with another giant epic masterpiece.

    93/100
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