Deeper Into the Meanings of the Movie

Farewell My Concubine was Kaige Chen's masterpiece. With almost 3 hours of film time, this movie was filled with Chinese culture, traditions, and reenactments of the Cultural Revolution. The main focus was Beijing Opera which encompassed the plot of the movie. The movie was set in the 1920's and followed the lives of 2 young boys from childhood to death. The beginning of the movie focussed a lot on the upbringing of the rising stars Dieyi and Xiaolou. The movie emphasized on the disciplines forced onto the young boys. In hope of one day becoming famous, they endured many hardships and punishments which molded them into men. Surprisingly after all the discipline that had been drilled into the boys, Xiaolou became a coward and conformed to the masses in order to save himself from persecution. Everything that he once stood against with no fear, quickly deteriorated when he realized he was not the king anymore. It was hard to believe that such a disciplined man would turn on his once close ones. This movie was a good display of how fear can turn people in the blink of an eye.

As the young boys had their big break, the movie shifted to the lives of them as young men. In the movie, they displayed hints of Dieyi being a homosexual and how that shaped his and Xiaolou's relationship. The fact that the main character was a homosexual was a very controversial subject. I do believe that it was intended for him to be a homosexual because the way I see it it insinuates change and how it's not a bad thing. Change is an appropriate term because homosexuality seems to be a faux pas in their culture and after everything as been suppressed for so long it is a nice introduction to something new to accept.

Sexual intercourse is displayed in several scenes of the movie and they all have different meanings. Dieyi's first experience was with the eunuch was very crucial in the story line because it changed who he was from that point on. When he slept with the "theatre god" he didn't do it for love, but rather to perhaps get ahead or to get back at Xiaolou. Later on the movie when Xiaolou and Juxian had intercourse they made love with passion because they loved each other and when Dieyi saw them I think that was the final tipping point for his friendship with Xiaolou. It was hard to see Xiaolou turn on Dieyi after everything they had been through. It was a big statement that he chose Juxian the prostitute over Dieyi and then in the end betrayed her as well. Xiaolou was very two faced and deceitful. He was a great actor on stage, but a better actor in real life by masking all his disloyalties. The scene with him on his knees at the Red Guards mercy, was the unveiling of the monster that lived within the so called king.

The last scene of the movie was very surprising. After everything Dieyi had gone through and survived, he chose to take his life. After doing some reading on Leslie Cheung the actor who played Dieyi his life was very similar. Fame and loved ones seemed to drive Dieyi as well as Leslie into depression and the ultimate ending...suicide. I wonder if this movie had any impact on Leslie Cheung committing suicide in 2003.

With all of these main points analyzed above, I still think the film was a little long and could have cut back on some scenes. The scene where the little boy committed suicide was an unnecessary part of the movie which didn't really change anything significant about the movie. There were a few other scenes involving a lot of slow moving shots of scenery/settings which some were appropriate and others seemed like time fillers.

Overall the movie was a very powerful message. It's hard to believe the western world had no idea of all the atrocities going on in China. This movie was an eye opening experience to what life was like in Communist China. Kaige's representations were very accurate to the time period, which made the movie that much more surreal.