The Last Emperor

Bertolucci’s opulent film (it was made for $US 25m and used 19,000 extras), the first western film made in and about the country to be produced with full Chinese government cooperation since 1949, is beautifully shot by his regular cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.The film tells the story of the last Manchu imperial ruler of China who came to the Dragon Throne at the age of 3, in 1908, shortly before the Republican Army took over China, leaving Pu Yi a virtual prisoner in the sealed off Forbidden City, an opulent palace of over nine thousand rooms.

Based on the 1964 autobiography of Aisin-Gioro "Henry" Pu Yi, entitled From Emperor to Citizen, The Last Emperor and scripted by Bertolucci and Mark Peploe if visually splendid, the film typifies the failure of so many historical epics to find a balance between its large scale production ambitions and the need for dramatic substance. This is hardly surprising given that Pu Yi (John Lone), despite having an extraordinary life was not a particularly interesting individual, his most significant relationship being with his Scottish mentor/companion (played with stock pomposity by Peter O'Toole). The relative lack of dramatic engagement in the script is only exacerbated by the flashback/flashforward technique as the film hops back and forth in time in what never amounts to much more than a beautifully illustrated history lesson, the fact that all the dialogue is in English adding yet another dimension of distanciation.

The film won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Sound against what was an admittedly weak field. It was originally released at 156m in a version which, if only for its relative brevity, is to be preferred to the 209m director’s cut that was released a year later.

DVD Extras: The expansive Umbrella 2 disc release has both versions of the film, the original theatrical; release coming with a commentary by Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas and composer Ryuichi Sakomoto; a 63 m featurettte, The Making Of The Last Emperor with an in-depth discussion of the film by the director; Postcards From China,a video taken by Bertolucci while on pre-production with a commentary; and the theatrical trailer. Fans of the film will appreciate that the superb quality transfers make it available in the 2.35:1 anamorphic aspect ratio in which it was originally filmed.

Available from: Umbrella Entertainment

 

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