I Didn't Want to Say Farewell My Concubine

Farewell My Concubine, directed by Chen Kaige and staring Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, and Gong Li is an impassioned story of heartbreak and hardship surrounding the Beijing Opera during the time preceding and through till the end of the Cultural Revolution in China. This film is beautifully constructed with colorful scenes depicting the daily, though romanticized, lives of two opera actors and a former prostitute. I would recommend the film for its insight into the chaos and instability forced upon the Chinese as they endured Japanese occupation, civil war, and finally Communism. Though these historical events remain in the background and are rarely addressed directly, their effects are clearly influential in the lives of the characters. Chen produced a masterpiece that allows his audience to experience a constantly changing world that has been largely ignored or erased by the CCP. Farewell My Concubine brings together China's traditional past and turbulent present in an educational and emotional tour de force for future generations across the globe.

The opening scene reveals Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou in their opera attire following the end of Cultural Revolution. Following this opening scene the movie consists of a series of flashbacks until finally returning to Cheng and Duan in the final scene. Opera provides both a frame for the story as well as a constant motif that serves as an anchor for both the characters and the audience during the rapidly changing historical context. A full-circle ending is artfully employed in this case, offering a sense of resolution, despite a shocking twist, when the credits roll.

Opera, at least on the surface, seems to be the main focus of Farewell My Concubine. After all the title of the movie is also the title of the opera that plays a central role in the characters' lives. Cheng and Duan train from childhood under a brutal master who is prone to routinely beating the young apprentices regardless of poor or proper performance. Cheng and Duan train from childhood under a brutal master who is prone to routinely beating the young apprentices regardless of poor or proper performance. Images of brazen violence are sicken, particularly to an American audience that is unaccustomed to such unsparing attacks. Western culture typically offers women and children mercy, but this element seems to be lacking in Chinese drama. Duan learns the part of the King, while Cheng is trained for the part of Concubine Yu. It is particularly painful to watch Cheng abused and whipped for correctly calling himself a boy when his master demands he call himself "by nature a girl." Cheng's confused sexuality follows him through life as he struggles to simultaneously suppress and embrace his love for Duan. Homosexuality appears to show itself at times during the film, which enhances Cheng's complexity as a character, while providing an array of additional conflicts that may stem from Cheng's sexual orientation. A twisted love triangle develops between Cheng, Duan, and Duan's wife Juxian. Jealousy boils within Cheng, sometimes right below the surface but oftentimes his torment is visible on his expressive and powdered face.

However, forbidden love is not the only force preventing these characters from finding bliss. They live during a time of turmoil and transformation in China. First the pampered, elite actors are criticized during street protests opposing a Japanese invasion. When the army invades China the opera house is adorned with Japanese flags and decor, indicating a shift in power (This illustration is paralleled later in the film when the opera house is turned over to the Communists and flooded by red draperies). Despite a different audience sitting on the opera house floor, the show must go on. The show does go on, but it ends with a brawl that lands Duan in the possession of the Japanese. Cheng sings for the Japanese officers in a desperate attempt to free his friend, but his act of treason condemns him as a traitor during the eventual Communist take-over. This incident is a reminder of the insanity that took hold during the years after Mao rose to power. Cheng's act was out of compassion and did little to give the Japanese a military or strategic advantage over the Chinese. However, year later this treasonous act is revived and instilled with new meaning.

The years of the Cultural Revolution are the most interesting and the most destructive, bringing the film to a breathtaking climax. Cheng's protege plays a key role in the demise of Cheng's and Duan's opera careers, and a struggle session in the streets reveals betrayal no one could have ever predicted. Public trials, executions, denunciations, and suicide are graphic portrayals of the Cultural Revolution and the havoc it brought to the Chinese. The "Old Society" and all remnants of China's glorious cultural tradition are sentenced to death.

Ironically, the one thing that shocked me above all else was the miraculous survival of the two opera stars through until the end of the Cultural Revolution. Surely such "reactionary" figures would have been executed during the cultural upheaval. Yet, through the trials and turbulence of China's history the men persevere, but not without traumatic damages to their personal and professional lives.