Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘Farewell My Concubine’ opens with a memorable shot of two elaborately dressed Opera performers walking into a sports arena, their painted faces, ornate robes, in stark contrast of the drab, utilitarian setting. The artists reveal they’re performing together after 22 years, the first time after the cultural revolution. As the intro title sequence rolls in, viewers are taken back to the 1920s, where protagonists Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou first meet as mere boys, training hard under strict, violent masters for the Peking Opera.
Directed by Kaige Chen, written by Pik-Wah Lee, and Wei Lu, ‘Farewell My Concubine’ stars Leslie Cheung as Cheng Dieyi AKA Douzi, while Fengyi Zhang plays his childhood best-friend and co-performer Duan Xiaolou. While Leslie Cheung is undoubtedly the star performer of this sprawling period piece, the child actors who portray Douzi’s younger version also leave a lasting impression. The boy is abandoned by his prostitute mother – she leaves him with a Peking Opera troupe known to take in orphaned boys as trainees. Life with the troupe is as bleak, harsh, violent as living in a depressing Charles Dickens novel.
Actor Zhi Yin plays the teen Douzi, stands out in his scenes as a young performer grappling with confusion over the lines he is forced to learn for his performances, which are that of a girl, but he keeps using male pronouns when practicing. This invites a lot of beatings from the master. Duan is slightly older and initially takes on the role of a protective friend, though over time, Douzi’s feelings for him evolves into something more.
The two boys become lead performers of the classic ‘Farewell My Concubine’, a tragic Peking Opera about a king’s devoted concubine who kills himself when the king faces capture. Douzi plays the concubine, while Duan portrays the king. As they perform the opera repeatedly over the years, they gain fame and fortune, but tragedy soon spills into their personal lives as well. Gong Li plays Li Juxian, a beautiful prostitute who draws Duan away from Douzi, driving a wedge between the two performers.
As Beijing becomes the hot-seat for political turmoil, chaos, and the cultural revolution, things get worse for the friends. Not only are grand performances looked down upon, Douzi also faces serious charges of treason and anti-national activities.
While Douzi is a devoted, passionate, and deeply sensitive artist, at times almost naïve, and unable to separate his on-stage identity from his real life, while Xiaolou is far more pragmatic, never as emotionally bound to his stage persona. Initially, he assumes the role of an older, protective brother to Douzi, but as political upheaval threatens their survival, Xiaolou begins to prioritise self-preservation, even if it means betraying those closest to him.
Director Kaige Chen takes the viewer through several turbulent years of Douzi’s life. Some of them of course are marked by the highs of his artist life – ornate stages, colorful costumes, a tragic tale to play out, and a packed audience that adores him. The story powerfully depicts how art, love, and self-expression are suffocated under oppressive regimes.
When a movie takes you back to memories of a lost time that will never come back, without throwing you out of its orbit, it’s a sign of true entertainment. And ‘Farewell My Concubine’ is that kind of cinematic experience. At least for me. And despite its near three-hour runtime, a length that usually makes me hesitate these days, not once did my attention waver.
I’ve always seen ‘Farewell My Concubine’ in several ‘movies to watch’ lists, but never thought the Chinese film would hit a personal chord. However, its Peking Era performances reminded me of ‘Jatra’ nights during the festive season in West Bengal, an exuberant folklore theater art form, which we weren’t allowed to watch until we were teens since the performances would begin post 10 pm and were sometimes slightly raunchy in nature.
The film’s final moments are tragic yet inevitable, lending heartbreaking resonance to the title ‘Farewell My Concubine’. A much older Douzi claims an ending for himself that reflects both his obsession with the stage and the childhood bond that defined his life.
Rating for ‘Farewell My Concubine’: 5 on 5 stars.
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