FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE
Special Features: 4K Restoration; 30th Anniversary
Spanning 50 years in China, from the early 20th century to the tumultuous Cultural Revolution, Chen Kaige's passionate, exquisitely shot film captures the vast historical scope of a changing country while revealing the intimate and touching details of a unique, tender, heartrending love story. Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) grow up enduring the harsh training of the Peking Opera Academy, where instructors regularly beat the students to instill in them the discipline needed to master the complex physical and vocal techniques of this ancient art. As the two boys mature, they develop complementary talents: Dieyi, with his fine, delicate features, assumes the female roles while Xiaolou plays masculine warlords. Their dramatic identities become real for Dieyi when he falls in love with Xiaolou, who fails to fully reciprocate his affections and marries a courtesan, Juxian (Gong Li), creating a dangerous, jealousy-filled romantic triangle. Based on the bestselling novel by Lillian Lee, FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and remains the only Chinese-language film to ever win the Palme d'Or. (Note courtesy of Film Movement.) DIR Chen Kaige; SCR Lu Wei, Lilian Lee, based on the novel by Lee; PROD Hsu Feng. China/Hong Kong, 1993, color, 171 min. In Mandarin with English subtitles. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Run Time: 171 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, November 10, 2023
Genre: Romance drama
