The Last Emperor: A Movie Review 

"it's not a marvel movie" That's a positive bro

When I was a child, I met my great-grandfather of Chinese origin and several times I asked him about what China was like... he never answered my question. Later I found out that the rest of my family always asked the same thing for years without any answer. When that movie appeared and was shown on TV or on VHS, my great-grandfather was already almost eighty years old and he always refused to see it, until one day my grandmother and one of my uncles sat down to watch it with him. My grandmother says that what happened next with my great-grandfather went from a panic attack and nervousness, it turned into a very deep cry, my grandfather muted and it seems that what he saw in that movie left him very stunned... I believe that in its time, that film was able to portray well all the crises of contemporary China and perhaps that film could explain something that my great-grandfather could never tell us... For me it is a very important film in my life, especially for my chinese side. Thanks for your video.

Thanks for posting this. For me, despite the film's inaccuracies the great achievement it made was to familiarise Western audiences with a historical figure from China's turbulent past. Otherwise Pu Yi's story would just be a lifeless, unrelatable crumb in history books known to a few Sinologists. I, for one was very moved by the ending and found that although Bertolucci was using ample creative licence he made a poignant point about human existence and 20th century history - the rapid change sweeping all before it and poor Pu Yi was caught in the middle. I am so happy this film was made before China became an en vogue topic in Western newspapers.

The ending of this film made me cry, and I never cry at films. And decades later, as a teacher who had taught the history of this era over and over, when I was watching it in bits and pieces which my young daughter, when the Last Emperor visits his home again as a tourist, I cried again. And she was shocked, as I tried to explain why it was so sad. I eventually fled to the bathroom to cry. It's a marvelous, sad, slow-moving beautiful love-letter to that era in Chinese history, and Chinese culture overall.

I’ve watched this many times since it came out in my early teens - it’s a beautiful movie and such a sad story

Obviously Puyi was no Saint, but I find his story to be incredibly sad and horrifying. He lived his entire life without any sense of self, and I find myself alone in voicing that opinion.

I like the film both the technical side and the story telling. It brings to life the emotions from historical figures.

I was a recent UCLA film school graduate when the film came out. I think to a certain degree both perspectives and film styles have changed a lot. Perhaps it is a little bit harder to appreciate it now than it was back then. You’re right that for most Americans had never seen the forbidden city and I think most Americans had limited understanding of both Chinese culture as well as its history. While it is not history, it is a film, it did open a world that most American had little knowledge of. I spent the next few years living in Asia and it did give me a better perspective to understand or appreciate the differences between east and west.

The Last Emporer is a masterpiece and timeless. I still like to watch it every now and then. The movies today are garbage!!!

This movie was way too forgiving of Puyi. He was a spoiled brat who would abuse his servants and thought that he deserved to rule all of the Great Qing because he was the Emperor.

I just saw this film recently, and I really liked it, especially as a fan of early 1900s Chinese history. However, your criticisms are valid. I feel like they tried a bit too hard to make Puyi sympathetic, and I understand how, to a Chinese speaker, having everyone speak English must have been jarring.

@Asianometry-please don't mind about the "ugly accented English" spoken by the Chinese actors in "The Last Emperor". In English, the vowels have definite frequency patterns characterised by the so called F1 n F2 Formants, the two major energised formants. They were produced "correctly" by arching the,front, middle n back part of the tongue to various height towards the hard palate. Beside these two major Formants that characterise the "pronunciation" of vowels, an additional sound quality is needed, the timbre. We know the sound qualities of different musical instruments from flutes to drums. One can produce "correct" vowels in terms of F1 and F2, but his timbre is different than the "Standard" n will be considered as "foreign" accent. I was exposed to British "accent", the first n sole accent, since primary school in HK. I came to US right after high school. On a Sunday, so many decades ago, I was picked up from LAX by my sister n went to her house. Right after dinner, I turned on the TV to watch the local news as it was my habit to listen to English news every night to see n hear the world around me since junior high school in HK. As I watched n listen to the News, I realised I could barely "understand the words that are coming from (their) mouths"-Rush Hr. Their mouths were moving, I could only discern some simple connected words, like "so, and, when , what n etc". I could not understand the contents as the key words were unintelligible. I thought this news broadcast was a trans-national broadcast (Mexican station broadcasting in English using Mexican accented English) from Mexico, but I know UHF cannot reach over 120 miles. Later I found out in the Western US, people's English is influenced so much by Spanish n their Formants were skewed n their timbres were definitely Spanish!! Luckily, my Junior College's professors were from the Mid-Atlantic, Mass n Vermont, n their accents were close to the British accent. I dreaded to go the streets n markets, as I couldn't understand them and they couldn't understand me. It took me at least 10 years to get used to the Spanish accented California accent.

4:50 As a Taiwanese, I also feel "bothered" when I see a Chinese film in English. It just feels wrong. Same with western film in the Chinese language, but not as much.

The beauty of the Last Emperor is in the OST by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

For those who make a fuss about the OST, keep in mind that 3 "talents" joined forces in doing this soundtrack: Japanese, American, Chinese. The result is rather meh, a 4-note melody with lots of monotonous sweeping passages, how ever you can't argue with success. For something of more substance and flavor, and Chinese, go and listen to the OST of "To Live", also about life under Mao, and one of Yang Zhimou better films, the haunting music done by one single Chinese composer.

That Chinese drama you mentioned has a very interesting origin. 鲁迅 wrote the first version of the story “伤逝" telling the trageic love story of a couple breaking through arranged marriage in 1920s China. Then 50 years later, 亦舒 picked up from its ending, altered it, named it 我的前半生 and continued the storyline in a new 1980s Hong Kong setting. Then 30 years later, there is this Chinese drama adapting 亦舒's novel but in a modern 2010s Shanghai setting. It is fascinating to me how this story continued to stay fresh in the past century while reflecting the struggle of Chinese women in different periods. Ying Ruocheng is also a very interesting person. I analyzed his classic performance in "death of a salesman" for my Chinese L&L course. His son was the stepfather of Chole Zhao, the now famous director.

Interesting to hear your viewpoint as a Chinese speaker. I don't think this movie was aimed at the Chinese diaspora. For me, it was more of a deep psychological story embedded in a parallel sociological/historical story of a great nation at a culmination of a very sad period of its history, just as it was for the last Emperor. I felt sad just as I did in the other Bertolucci movie "1900". Both seemed to parallel a story of a broken life, which beget a weak personality, having to stand in contrast to very powerful figures around him. I found the seperation of the child from his mother at such an early age , this abandoment, very sad indeed. I think Bertolucci did a very good job in connecting the character to the China of that period. In a way, when Xi talks about the "humiliating" period of China when they were raped and pillaged by Western "democracies" and Japan, it fills me with similar sadness.

I found this channel today and I have to say I’m really enjoying the videos. I’m from the U.K. and I am currently studying the first and second Opium war and relations between the British Empire and the Qing Dynasty at university. If you have not done a video about it could you maybe do a video about the Opium war from the Chinese point of view would be interesting.

i found this to be an incredible movie. The decision to use english was kind of weird but fair enough. The passage of time and vast differences puyi lived through were mind blowing. The scenes in the forbidden city were very dream like, to see that last scene and how such a place turned into a tourist attraction was surreal. The scene of the red guards was very memorable too. Very well shot film.

You complain about the accents. But how is that any different than an American actor adopting a Singaporean accent in Crazy Rich Asians. It's called acting for a reason.

I think the big takeaway, at least for me, was how a rigid, aristocratic society produced Puyi, how it left him totally unprepared for the changing world, and how that society itself was swept away. I think people want monarchy, even Americans, to a certain extent. It represents an unbroken circle of life. When that chain is broken, people get very sad. I think that's why many people find this film sad.

I just saw your video. This is my favorite movie of all time. I watched it as a high school student when it came out in the late 80s. It blew me away and I cried at the end. I still cry. I’m Asian American but the casting of Chinese Americans with fake accents, and everyone speaking English, didn’t bother me at all. Please don’t judge this 40 year old movie with the cultural standards of today. At the time it was no big deal. Obviously today they would do things differently. I can’t imagine seeing this movie for the first time in 2021. It must seem extremely cringey. I first saw it in 1987 so that’s the lens through which I still remember this amazing film

"Farewell My Concubine" is the only movie created that can rival "The Last Emperor" when it comes to Chinese topic. Judging a work of those years with today's mindset? No. Made today, would be filled with woke garbage. Bertolucci and everyone involved created a timeless masterpiece. Generations got inspired and influenced, attracted to explore the culture. It surely feels more Chinese than all the CGI filled crap, perfect hair, flawless skin, robotic soulless actors Chinese movies of recent churn out. Oh, but those are in Mandarin!

great review! thank you

American audiences would be thought to not want to read subtitles the whole time. I can understand that.

It was a great movie.

PRC is very strange. as it is communist, would assume that the government would be anti-monarchy, but PRC seems very tolerant of monarchies. the communist party didn't execute puyi, rather reform him, as opposed to the russian communists killing the entire tsar royal family. ROC do/did hold some piece of qing. for the movie, i think it did miss some gruesome details but was ok overall

The ultimate aim of the film was to tell a story. Most bioics or historic narrative films aren't accurate.

thanks

You're winging abut the accents? Watch it again with Italian dubbing and then see what you can complain about. I have seen part of two versions of the last emperor's life, one (communist) Chinese and the other Thai. Bertolucci's film was far superior.

I sort of agree with your criticism of the film making Puyi look like less of a horrible person than he was, but it’s not like the movie skirts away from it entirely. As for the issue of language, I’m sure to a native Chinese person it must’ve been strange to see Chinese figures speaking English, but for me, a westerner, I feel like it makes it all the more accessible to us. And I doubt, especially in that time, that it would’ve made the splash it did if it were filmed with Mandarin Chinese speaking actors. I will concede, though, that some of the bad English accents can take you out of the film and make you go “why didn’t they go for another take?”

I don't get it. I'm of Greek ancestry (2nd gen). My grand parents immigrated so I know the Greek accent well: I grew up around it. So, when I saw "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and native born American actor Michael Constantine (Greek-American) played Greek immigrant Gus Portokalos with a Greek accent I didn't soil my short, fall to the ground, sucking my thumb and throw a hissy fit. He was SUPPOSED to have a Greek Accent. As for your hissy fit about actor Victor Wong, the director had a choice: spend a year training the Chinese actors to speak American accented English to match Wong's, or have Wong adopt a Chinese accent so all the China Actors accents would match. I think the director made the right choice. Good gracious, GET OVER IT! Son. It isn't that big a deal. Oh, and P.S. if it was shot in Chinese with English subtitles it wouldn't have had anywhere near the global impact that it did. Hundreds of millions of people around the world now know the story through this amazing film. So, in reality everyone involved made the correct decisions on this brilliant film. We don't need "aggrieved race-obsessors" ruining it with 21st century politically correct blah, blah, blah. Keep it on the campus. We're all stocked up on Race, Inc. out here in the real world.

Shout out to you for noting the choice of the director to move forward with, "English-speaking" dialogue. It was cringe-distraction and ultimately made me feel as if it was a "intellectual-lazy" decision. Regardless-I was educated and moved by the film. Thank you.

"It's not a Marvel movie, it's not a crowd-pleaser" - so, it's interesting, then? In any case, this story is mostly a ludicrous whitewash of a horrid individual. Puyi's "autobiography" was ordered by Mao, so we get a sympathetic portrayal. I don't deny the movie's prettiness, though I'd gently suggest that if people want to look at pretty pictures, they can look at screensavers.

This movie made me study cinema. Another one was Battleship Potemkin.