Farewell My Concubine by Chen Kaige (1993) was one of the rare Chinese films that has made its way to Western audiences. it was acclaimed by Western critics and received awards from various critics organizations. The film also represented a shift in artistic opportunities in China. The film is an opportunity for Westerners to see inside China today, to appreciate the state of Chinese filmmaking, and to gain a different view of humanity from a filmmaker who has a strong command of the medium.
The story of the film covers a long period in Chinese history. The film begins with a prologue in which two of the main characters are preparing for a farewell performance of their best theatrical vehicle, a piece called "Farewell My Concubine." They are stage performers in the Beijing Opera, and much of the spectacle in the film derives from the way the opera in China is conducted, with characters wearing theatrical masks and huge headdresses, and with the swirling yellow curtains that serve as a backdrop to the performers. The farewell performance just noted is taking place in 1977, and the film then shifts to the 1920s when these two characters are children in the streets of Beijing, a period of great turmoil, with rioting in the streets, warlords attempting to assert their power, Western forces attempting to exploit the Chinese for their goods, and tension among social classes everywhere. A theatrical troupe is being harassed by the police until the boy Shitou uses a kung-fu trick to win over the crowd and defuse the situation. A prostitute who witnesses the whole thing offers her child, Douzi, as an actor in the company, and she then runs off and leaves him to his new fate.
The film in a few short strokes sets the themes of the roles of men and women in society, of the nature of assuming new roles, of the way the individual chooses a new path and then wonders if it is the right one, and so on. The underlying thrust of this fil...