Ba wang bie ji (1993)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Kaige Chen

Writers:

Lillian Lee (novel)
Lillian Lee (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 October 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

The passionate story of two lifelong friends and the woman who comes between them.

Plot:

The story of two men, who met as apprentices in the Peking Opera, and stayed friends for over 50 years.

Plot Keywords:

Opera | Peking Opera | Peking | Drug Addiction | Bathing

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Leslie Cheung	...	Cheng Dieyi (segment "Douzi")
Fengyi Zhang	...	Duan Xiaolou (segment "Shitou")
Li Gong	...	Juxian
Qi Lü	...	Master Guan
Da Ying	...	Manager
You Ge	...	Master Yuan
Chun Li	...	Xiao Si (in his teens)
Han Lei	...	Xiao Si (adult)
Di Tong	...	Zhang the Eunuch
Mingwei Ma	...	Douzi as a Child
Yang Fei	...	Shitou as a Child
Zhi Yin	...	Douzi as a Teenager
Hailong Zhao	...	Shitou as a Teenager
Dan Li	...	Laizi / Peking Opera schoolboy
Wenli Jiang	...	Douzi's Mother

Also Known As:

Farewell My Concubine (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
Ba wong bit gei (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
Adeus Minha Concubina (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Addio mia concubina (Italy) [it]
Adiós a mi concubina (Spain) [es]
Adiós mi concubina (Argentina) [es]
Adieu, ma concubine (France) [fr]
Adio, pallakida mou (Greece) [el]
Elveda cariyem (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Farväl min konkubin (Sweden) [sv]
Isten veled, ágyasom! (Hungary) [hu]
Jääyväiset jalkavaimolle (Finland) [fi]
Lebewohl, meine Konkubine (Germany) [de]
Zegnaj, moja konkubino (Poland) [pl]

MPAA:

Rated R for language and strong depiction of thematic material.

Runtime:

171 min

Country:

China | Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Black and White (some scenes) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-14 | Germany:12 | Peru:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG

Company:

Beijing Film Studio

Trivia:

Jackie Chan was originally offered the role of Duan Xiaolou due to his own childhood experience of training in the Peking Opera. But he turned it down, fearing that the film, which deals with themes of homosexuality, might tarnish his image.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Douzi is first examined by the owner of the opera troupe, his extra finger is on his right hand below the thumb. When he withdraws the hand from the opera troupe owner, he pulls back his left arm. When his mother cuts the extra finger off a few moments later, it is now on his left hand, next to his pinkie.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Gilmore Girls: Women of Questionable Morals (#5.11)" (2005)

Opening and closing scenes

quote by tedg: "Opening scenes are seductions, promises. They transport one to the world of the story and establish who you as viewer can expect to be. Done right, they are an art to themselves. This film's opening is among the best I've seen, establishing the world of performance: politics as theater and love as both. It lets you know the perspective is centered on a stylized stage and concerns loss, sexually ambiguous brotherhood and betrayal. All in a couple minutes."

Well put. Also noteworthy is that at the end of the movie the opening scene is being mirrored (the two actors on stage being lit by a spot light), the film thus coming full circle. Quite ingenious.

What is good about the movie is that we (Westerners that is) learn a lot about recent Chinese history, which cannot be a bad thing considering the direction in which China is heading.

Oh, and Leslie Cheung's - may he rest in peace - performance is simply outstanding. But then, the acting is first rate all round.

This is one hell of a movie.

And, off topic, I have once again realised that the problem with sub-titled films is that one misses so much/too much of the actual acting, making it really necessary to view movies twice. Still, (a lot) better than viewing dubbed films though.