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Bernardo Bertolucci advances the case of the historical epic with 1987's big Oscar® winner The Last
Emperor, a nearly perfect balance of sweeping destinies and intimate lives. The film covers sixty
years in Chinese history familiar to few westerners; stepping into the world of the boy emperor is
almost as strange as entering an alternative universe in Tolkien or Frank Herbert. Filmed in English and
Chinese in the real Forbidden City in Peiping, The Last Emperor is a fascinating experience from
one end to the other.
Criterion's disc rewards the viewer with a wealth of extras on the film's extraordinary production
process and its sprawling subject matter. Although Bertolucci prefers his 165-minute theatrical cut, the
218-minute Italian television version adds depth to the saga without slowing down the story.
Synopsis: 1949. The ex- puppet of Manchukuo during the Japanese occupation, Emperor Pu Yi (John Lone) is
delivered to the Chinese Communists for re-education under a stern prison warden (Ruocheng Ying). He
remembers 1908: As the Dowager Empress nears death, tiny Pu Yi (played at different ages by four actors)
is forcibly taken from his parents to become the pampered head of the Ching (Qing) dynasty. Although
waited on by an army of servants, Pu Yi cannot leave the Forbidden City. Only years later does he
discover that China has become a republic, and that his royal compound is a sort of gilded prison. In
the 1920s, as civil war rages outside the walls, English tutor Reginald Johnson (Peter O'Toole) explains
to Pu Yi that the dynasty has been retained for symbolic purposes, and that he is held prisoner by his
thousands of servants simply to provide them with jobs and income. Pu Yi marries a pre-chosen bride, Wan
Jung (Joan Chen). When a new warlord expels the royals, Pu Yi flees with Wan Jung to Tiensien, where
they take the names Henry and Elizabeth and live a frivolous life in nightclubs. But, spurred on by
Japanese 'friend' Amakasu (Ryuichi Sakamoto), Henry cannot resist the invitation to reclaim his destiny
by becoming the new Emperor of Manchukuo. Henry's Japanese installers limit his role to ceremonial
duties. Playgirl/friend Eastern Jewel (Maggie Han) hooks Elizabeth on opium so she can be held hostage;
Amakasu has their baby murdered at birth to eliminate a potential heir. When the Russians overrun
Manchukuo, Henry is captured attempting to escape.
The Last Emperor tells its story with color. It opens with Pu Yi's suicide attempt in a
cold, dull train station in Red China. His red blood cues a flashback to the end of the Ching Dynasty,
loosing onto the screen a riot of color and lavish textures. Spoiled little Pu Yi romps among endless
ranks of guards and servants in fantastic ritual costumes. Mostly kept from his real family, he's
pampered by wet nurses and kept ignorant of his position as a bird (or a cricket) in a gilded cage.
Women seem to control Pu Yi's life. A gaggle of aunts chooses his bride. On their wedding night she
gives Pu Yi a taste of sexual delights and then backs off: "He's very young, but he'll grow up," she
laughs.
As if trapped in a time warp, the huge Forbidden City stays in the 19th century while China outside
undergoes violent political upheavals. Pu Yi develops a distanced sympathy for democratic values, yet
never questions his right to rule. When the warlord's troops invade the Forbidden City, Pu Yi and his
court are enjoying a game of tennis, with teacher Johnson serving as referee. Considering the hardships
and suffering outside the walls, it's obvious that Pu Yi's royal lifestyle is a social outrage.
All of this is contrasted with the harsh re-education measures in the Red Chinese prison. The
middle-aged Pu Yi is incarcerated with several of his former servants, who at first continue to dress
him and indulge his lies about being kidnapped by the Japanese to serve as the Emperor of Manchukuo.
Back in Tiensien, 'Henry and Elizabeth' adopt western dress, music and customs while the Japanese set
them up as puppet monarchs. Amakasu and Eastern Jewel have no difficulty getting Henry to take the bait,
despite Elizabeth's pleas that they go to England instead. Installed as a fool in a meaningless office,
Henry can only watch as his captors despoil his country, murder his child and reduce Elizabeth to a
psychotic state.
Back in the Red Chinese prison, Henry finally understands that he's a Quisling responsible for untold
suffering, and that his jailer is really a wise teacher. Released into Chinese society, he becomes a
gardener -- until the purges of the 1966 Cultural Revolution.
Bertolucci and his screenwriter Mark Peploe document six-decades of pageantry with a script that makes
the unfamiliar unfold with sparkling clarity. Pu Yi collapses in tears when he sees China's real leader,
a warlord, arrive by motorcar in a legation compound adjacent to his regal enclosure. His servants will
follow his every whim and demand, but when his real mother is dying, the guards will not let him leave
the compound to go to her. It's all prestige without power. Except for a summer or two pretending to be
Hollywood stars in Tiensien, Henry and his wife spend their entire lives in closely monitored
captivity.
Eye-popping visuals and exotic designs abound in the Forbidden City sections of the story as we see how
the baby Pu Yi is fed, entertained and attended. Pu Yi's entire life is an artificial bubble, a Dynastic
irrelevance persisting in a changed world. Known for intellectual films (The Conformist) where
narrative clarity is a secondary concern, Bertolucci assembles The Last Emperor into a succession
of perfectly judged scenes that never obstruct the forward momentum of the story. There's not a
predictable chapter in the entire film. Pu Yi's wedding night is an exotic fantasy that seems to be
happening in a dream.
The script takes a pragmatic view of history. Emperor Pu Yi was at the center of gigantic political
convulsions in which millions of his countrymen were killed -- in civil wars, by invading Japanese and
by the harsh policies of the Reds. Although Bertolucci acknowledges all of this, he doesn't condemn Red
China out of hand. The Cultural Revolution is reduced to a parade of hooligans, while Henry's forced
incarceration is seen as a good thing. Less debatable is the film's portrait of the Japanese invaders.
Henry sees only the elite spearhead of the Japanese oppressors, but it's bad enough. How many films
depict the medical murder of a baby, and force us to accept it as a logical outcome of political power
plays?
The acting is uniformly good, with John Lone outstanding as the unwise Emperor. Peter O'Toole is
properly starched as the English tutor and actor-composer Ryuchi Sakamoto is a cool menace as the
one-armed Amakasu. Joan Chen is heartbreaking as the Emperor's faithful wife, and Maggie Han suitably
malevolent as the China-hating adventuress Eastern Jewel.
Criterion's massive boxed set for The Last Emperor presents Bernardo Bertolucci's epic in a pair
of excellent encodings. Both the theatrical and TV versions are in enhanced widescreen with great color.
The audio is also remarkable, with soundtrack contributions from composers David Byrne, Ryuchi Sakamoto
and Cong Su. Discs 2 and three are packed with long-form docus and galleries. New pieces include input
from Bertolucci, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and the designers and art directors that fabricated a
lost Chinese world in record time, with most interiors filmed on Italian sound stages. The main
making-of docu shows amusing footage of Bertolucci directing an army of extras on the forecourt of the
Forbidden City. Assistants chatter in Italian while assistant directors relay instructions in Chinese.
In the middle of this bedlam, other assistants attempt to corral the 3 year-old kid playing Pu
Yi.
Other films from Italy and England document Bertolucci's massive production, while historian Ian Buruma
provides an annotated video essay explaining 20th Century Chinese history. David Byrne appears for an
interesting interview-doc about his contribution to the soundtrack. A fat program book includes essays
by David Thompson and Fabien S. Gerard, and interviews with designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti, Bertolucci
and actor Ying Ruocheng. Criterion's DVD producer is Kim Hendrickson.
For more information about The Last Emperor, visit The
Criterion Collection. To order The Last Emperor, go to
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by Glenn Erickson
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