Farewell my Concubine (4 Stars)

This is a film that's been on my list for a long time, and I finally watched it today. It's a highly acclaimed film that won the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated as the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1994 Academy Awards. It's a film about the friendship between two actors from 1924 to 1977, told against the background of the political upheavals in China.

In 1924 a prostitute hands over her young son Douzi to be trained as an opera singer for a Peking Opera group. "Peking" is the type of opera, not the town where he was based, which is never named. Douzi is rejected by the other boys because of his background, but an older boy, Shitou, protects him. The two become close friends. As the years pass the two boys become famous performers. The main piece that they perform together is a classical opera called "Farewell my Concubine". I haven't been able to find a detailed synopsis of the opera, but I could piece together a few things from the film. A king has lost his battles and expects to be captured and killed. He begs his lover, his concubine Yu, to run away, but she insists on staying with him to the end.

In the Peking Opera it's usual for men to play the female parts, so the picture above shows Douzi on the left as the concubine, with Shitou on the right as the king.

Shitou frequently accuses Douzi of not being able to distinguish the opera from real life. Douzi loves Shitou in the opera and in real life, but Shitou prefers real women. He frequently visits an expensive brothel, where he falls in love with a prostitute called Juxian. She leaves the brothel to marry Shitou, which greatly disturbs Douzi. Their friendship is finally broken up when the Japanese invade in 1937. Shitou speaks out against the Japanese occupation and is arrested. Douzi performs operas for the Japanese. He doesn't think of it as collaboration. Douzi says that art is above politics and all men deserve to enjoy the Peking Opera.

Douzi manages to look like a woman on stage...

... but I still prefer Juxian, played by the beautiful actress Gong Li.

The two friends reunite after the Japanese surrender in 1945, but they can't continue to perform indefinitely. In 1966 the new Chinese leadership considers Peking Opera to be bourgeois, so they have to publicly renounce their acting to save their lives.

There are other subplots that run through the film. Douzi is wooed for years by a rich Chinese businessman called Master Yuan. He doesn't consent to become his lover, but he accepts lavish gifts. Xiao Si, a young man from the opera troupe, fully accepts Communism and turns against the Peking Opera, saying it's no longer relevant in days of revolution.

I'm surprised to see homosexuality mentioned in a Chinese film. Admittedly, there are no homosexual acts, but there are several cases of men loving men. Fifteen minutes was cut from the domestic Chinese version of the film, but the international version is uncut.

This is an epic film. I admit that I need help understanding it. I only have a vague understanding of Chinese post-war politics. I'd like to sit and watch the film with a Chinese friend. Are there any volunteers among my readers? If you're Chinese and live in Germany near Stuttgart, please let me know.