Movie : Farewell, My Concubine (覇王別姬)

I dare to say that 'Farewell, My Concubine' is an well-made movie that has got everything. It is a Chinese movie. The story is deeply related to the history of modern China which underwent a sudden change. The movie's about the actors in the Beijing Opera 'Farewell, My Concubine(覇王別姬). It is hard to explain the desperate fate of them swept along the history and the opera. I'm going to write something here about the movie, but I really really recommend you to watch it if you want to talk about this film.







Dieyi was born having six fingers. Dieyi's mom, a prostitute, cut his sixth finger and left him on the doorsteps of Beijing opera school because she couldn't afford him. Dieyi was too young to be left alone. He went through inhuman Spartan training in school. Because women cannot be on the stage, Dieyi was forced to abandon his sexuality and take a role of women. He was beaten to death for that he rejected the role. Dieyi once lost his finger and family. Now that he's deprived of his sexuality, he literally lost everything. He was only seven or eight years old. However, there was Xiaolou, the friend in Beijing opera school. Since Xiaolou was the only one that took care of Dieyi, he became Dieyi's everything. All that Dieyi had in his life was Xiaolou and 'Concubine Yu', the role Dieyi acted for all his life. (Generally in Beijing opera, an actor acts as only one character for all his life.) Xiaolou also lived as 'King of Chu', Concubine Yu's lover.






The opera 'Farewell, my concubine' is based on a true story which happened in the war between Chu and Han. The king of Chu was defeated in a war and was impossible to break through the besieging enemy forces. His concubine Yu stabbed herself on her throat while she was performing a sword dance. She knew that she was a burden to him. Crying out in sorrow, the king of Chu bravely attacked the enemy's camp and met a glorious death.





It was maybe determined that Dieyi,who was Concubine Yu during his whole life, lived a tragic life. Besides, Xiaolou didn't love Dieyi as much as Dieyi loved Xiaolou. Dieyi's destiny became much sadder when Xiaolou married a woman named Juxian. And as the government suppressed Beijing Opera during the Cultural Revolution, Dieyi was prohibited performing. Dieyi lost his everything again.










One more thing that makes this movie special is an actor Leslie Cheung who took the role of Dieyi. He was such a famous movie star all over the Asia but killed himself when he was 47. Since there was a rumor that he was a homosexual, his tragic fate had some similarities to Dieyi's.