The Last Emperor - Director's Cut
by Bernardo Bertolucci
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DVD details
Actor: Joan Chen, John Lone, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying, Victor WongDirector: Bernardo Bertolucci
Writer: Bernardo Bertolucci
Producer: Franco Giovale
Producer: Jeremy Thomas
Producer: John Daly
Producer: Joyce Herlihy
Writer: Henry Pu-yi
Writer: Mark Peploe
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, Letterboxed, Subtitled
Picture Format: Letterbox, 2.35:1
Running Time: 219 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-02-23
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Live / Artisan
DVD Reviews of The Last Emperor - Director's Cut
DVD Review: Buy this one!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you enjoyed this movie as much as I did you will want it in you DVD library, however, be aware of the fact that there is a Chinese version which is in Mandarin. I ordered the Chinese version by mistake because at the time it was not clear that it was not in English.DVD Review: Yeah, what he said.
Summary: 1 Stars
I agree 100% with Nix Pix. He said it all. I only wish to reiterate here. Amazing film but world's worst DVD transfer. Shame on ARTISAN for releasing such an inferior product. DO NOT waste your time or money on this version. Even if you find it in a bargain bin for 99 cents, leave it alone. Unless you need a new coaster or something.
Instead buy the new Criterion 4 disc remastered version. A little more expensive but well worth it. The preservation of excellent cinema alone justifies the expenditure. Better picture, better sound and finally the correct aspect ratio. Criterion is where it's at.
DVD Review: Wait for the Criterion Editon!
Summary: 4 Stars
It comes out at the end of February and well worth the wait. Search it out!DVD Review: The Twilight of the Middle Kingdom
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Last Emperor" tells the amazing true story of Pu Yi,the Middle Kingdom's last emperor. From its gripping opening sequence in which the young Pu Yi is torn from his mother's arms to his life as a nobody in the gray blandness of Communist China, it is a powerful spectacle. Ryuichi Sakamoto&David Byrne's soundtrack captures the epic sweep of the movie. Bernardo Bertolucci's direction is superb&his international cast is perfect.
"The Last Emperor" begins with Pu Yi being taken to the Forbidden City. He grows up under the shadow of the menacing Empress Dowager; he is incredibly dependent on his voluptuous wet nurse,who still breastfeeds him when he's older. Eunuchs surround him. When he is enthroned as emperor,he's worshipped as a living god. All very heady stuff for a young child. Growing up,he is naive to the eunuchs robbing him blind;he's as much a slave as his own slaves are. Reginald Johnston (Peter O'Toole) comes into Pu Yi's life as the first father figure he's ever had,instructing him in Western culture. In accordance with royal norms, Pu Yi takes a wife Wan Jung (the luminous Joan Chen) and a concubine. When the Chinese Empire is overthrown, Pu Yi is vulnerable to Japan's offer of Manchukuo. They prey on his weakness,his desire for power. Pu Yi's life crumbles around him. His concubine is impregnated by his taxi driver (she gets a forced abortion);his wife carries on a passionate affair with a beautiful female Japanese spy&succumbs to a fatal opium addiction. Pu Yi's life goes from one form of imprisonment to another. From being imprisoned in the Forbidden City,he goes to being a prisoner of Communism. Communist China is just as oppressive,though it proclaims uniformity&equality. Instead of spectacles of lamas sounding horns, Pu Yi beholds the spectacle of the Red Army dancing as they wave Mao's Little Red Book. A kindly jailer befriends Pu Yi-only to be killed arbitrarily during the Cultural Revolution. Pu Yi survives Communism; it doesn't save him.
"The Last Emperor" succeeds in painting the portrait of an era. It shows how much China changed over the course of nearly a century. However,there are some interesting details that got lost,for logical reasons. Bertolucci depicts Pu Yi as a passionate heterosexual man,joyously making love to his wife&his concubine. In fact,Pu Yi never consummated any of his marriages,abandoned his Empress on their wedding night&there's compelling speculation that he was in fact gay. Reginald Johnston is depicted as a celibate bachelor. It's true Johnston never married. However,when he returned to Scotland,he had two different girlfriends there,one of whom burned his letters to her after his death.
"The Last Emperor" is a ravishing,sensual spectacle. It inspired me to write an "alternate history" in which Wan Jung finds solace&love in Reginald Johnston's arms instead of getting addicted to opium. One can only wonder what sort of rating this movie would've had if Ang Lee had choreographed love scenes between Peter O'Toole and Joan Chen. Lust,caution indeed. "The Last Emperor" is a powerful,superb spectacle. Enjoy!
DVD Review: The REAL DEAL!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the AUTHENTIC ARTISAN RELEASE of "The Last Emperor". The other DVD listings are for CRAPPY Korean and Chinese Counterfeit R1 Imports. Asian Regions do not Manufacture legitimate Region 1 for Export. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! I can't figure out why Amazon allows the other illegal counterfeits to be listed on their website!!?? Is Amazon turning into FakE-BAY?
Description of The Last Emperor - Director's Cut
Everything that was good about the 163-minute theatrical release of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor in 1987 is even better in this new 218-minute director's cut. By contrast, much that was peculiarly distant and lifeless the first time around isn't really better or worse in this edition. Conclusion: the net gains are considerable if you invest time to appreciate Bertolucci's full feeling for the odd story of Pu Yi, China's final monarch. You remember the saga: taken from his mother at the age of three, Pu Yi is brought into the enclosed walls of the Forbidden City to replace the real emperor. There he becomes a pampered prisoner and hollow symbol of an older monarchy that has since given way to a ruthless, 20th century republic. With his pining loyalists beheaded or kept at bay by armed soldiers outside the City's walls, Pu Yi is tutored by an English gentleman (Peter O'Toole) and wed to a kindred spirit (Joan Chen). Eventually cast from his gated paradise, Pu Yi (wonderfully portrayed in adulthood by John Lone) becomes, by turns, a playboy, a dupe to the Japanese, and a victim of China's cultural reforms and re-education programs. This longer cut largely top-loads the film with greater reason to feel compassion for the emperor, with his often wordless sense-adventure in the mysteries that could only be known to one little boy plunged into indecipherable alien decorum, robbed of self-determination and common sense by his infinite privilege. Added scenes (including some in the political rehabilitation camp where Pu Yi is held for a decade) fill out not so much added facts as density of experience. This improved The Last Emperor is richer in soul and a pronounced sense of Bertolucci actually directing this film in the most personal and profound sense. --Tom KeoghChina DVDs
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