THE LAST EMPEROR
Italy/UK, 1987, 209 minutes, Colour.
John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Victor Wong.
Directed by Bernardo Bertollucci.
The Last Emperor is a spectacular film written by Mark Peploe and director Bernardo Bertollucci. It was filmed in the Republic of China, much of it in the Forbidden City. It spans the period 1908 to 1967, a period of enormous changes in the world but, particularly, in China.
The Last Emperor is Pu Yi. Crowned as Emperor in 1908, in the aftermath of revolution and the Boxer Rebellion, he grows up in the Forbidden City while China is declared a Republic. Expelled in the '20s, he became an international playboy and backed the Japanese in their rule of Manchuria in the '30s. He was, in effect, a puppet emperor of the Japanese during the war. After the war he was taken by the Russians and interned in a concentration camp. After spending almost ten years there, he was released and became a gardener. Bertollucci shows the interest in society and changes as he did in his epic of Italy, 1900. In the '30s sequences, there are many echoes of his portrait of fascist Italy in the '30s and '40s in The Conformist. John Lone (Iceman, Year of the Dragon, Shadows of the Peacock) is effective as the Emperor. Peter O'Toole gives a strong performance as his tutor Reginald Johnstone.
However, the impact for a western audience is the portrait of China - both in its landscapes and cities, in its traditions and the change of traditions, in Mao's taking over China and the subsequence communist regime.
A spectacular and absorbing contemporary epic.
1. The impact of the film, its scope? The history of China in the 20th. century?
2. Audience appreciation of China, of its history, of Peking and the Forbidden City? The re-creation of periods, decor? Pageantry? The use of newsreels for the middle of the century? The musical score and its blend of eastern and western themes?
3. The scope and the insight of the film? China, China in the 20th. century, interaction between east and west, the isolation of China? The collapse of the empire, the Republic of China? The warlords and internal troubles? The invasion of the Japanese? World War Two? The communist revolution? (The parallels with Bertollucci's other films?)
4. The structure of the film and audience involvement: the opening in 1950, the audience seeing the Emperor as a prisoner, knowing what his fate was, the change from his imperial status, the suicide attempt? The memories and their being presented in chronological order? The memories of the Emperor? The Commander reading Reginald Johnstone's book? The camp and the memories? The movies of the period and their effect? The Emperor's release, 1967 and the Red Guard? The final visit to the Forbidden City? The tourists and the information given about the Emperor? A perspective for the portrait of an individual, of the country?
5. John Lone as Pu Yi: seeing him as a prisoner, middle age, treatment, 1950, his being with the other prisoners at the station, food, the suicide attempt, his being saved, in the prison camp, his imperious nature and behaviour, his valet and the reaction against him, the interrogations, his confessions, signing all the condemnations? The Commander saying that he thought he was above all and therefore was now the worst of all? His release? His working as a gardener? The Red Guard protest and his jailer Commander a prisoner, his interceding for him, the encounter with the boy in the Forbidden City? The end of a life? Its meaning?
6. The perspective of Red China, upheaval at the turn of the century, the dynasty, the declaration of the republic, the decay within the Forbidden City, wealth and the eunuchs, exploitation? Chiang Kai-Shek? and the Nationalists? The communist revolution and the Red Guard? later openness?
7. 1908: the opening to the west, the Boxer Rebellion, the Emperor dying, the role of the Dowager, the importance of the dynasty, origins In Manchuria, the young boy being brought to the court, being taken from his mother (and her later visit, her opium death and the Emperor’s resentment about this), his father leaving, his brother coming later and playing with him, the pomp of the court, the entourage, the eunuchs, the ladies-in-waiting? The baby boy and his having to cope with this? Playful, overawed? The Dowager and her position, her death? The boy crowned? His being pampered, the toilet sequence, his bath? The role of the eunuchs? His wanting to go home? Growing up isolated, his life in the city, the range of advisers? The pomp and ceremony, playing with his brother, being wilful, the games, making his entourage chase each other?
8. The glimpse of the boy growing older, his whims and wishes, the arrival of Reginald Johnstone, the formality of the meeting, his education, language, his being prepared for the future, Johnston’s observing his loneliness - the rituals of the food-tasting and the meals? The bicycle? His riding in the city after his mother's death, his being forbidden to leave? His establishing his authority - the sequence with the minister having to drink the green ink? The arrangement about his wife, the consort? The formal meeting with his wife, his questions about dignity and choice, the kissing, his inexperience, the lipstick, women and tradition? His reaction? His wanting reform? The question of his eyesight, getting the glasses - and tradition being against this? His cutting his pigtail? His playing tennis in western dress, letting his hair grow? The taking over of the Forbidden City and his having to pack and leave? The effect of leaving?
9. Going to the Japanese instead of the West? His motives, becoming their puppet, his confession of being a playboy, his singing the song, the dancing, his wives, divorce, his wife becoming an opium addict and his reaction against this? The Chinese pilot and her loyalty to the Japanese, the infatuation with his wife, procuring drugs for her, the hints of lesbian relationship? The Japanese film man and his hold and advice? The taking of Manchuria, his going, the stories about his rule, the outdoor enthronement and its pomp with the background of the factory? His palace, work, his wife's alienation ' her pregnancy, the killing of the father? her decline and the death of the baby? Her going to the asylum? The political atmosphere, receptions, the Papal Nuncio? The Emperor's visits to Japan? The irony of the newsreels and their comment on him? The background of Japanese atrocities on the Chinese? The war, the collapse of his rule, the suicide of the Japanese adviser, his wife's return and her spitting on her captors? Sitting in the plane, captured? His ambitions, sense of heredity, hopes? How well did the film explore his character during these years?
10. The sketch of his wife, her hopes, life with him, the pilot, the reception, the opium and her behaviour, her alienation, the chauffeur and his fathering the child, his being killed by the Japanese, the birth of the baby and its death, her mental collapse, returning, her spitting at her enemies? The consort and her being alienated, the dance? Her leaving?
11. The range of advisers in the palace, the eunuchs and their wealth, setting fire to the palace to conceal what they had exploited? The Japanese advisers? The film man, the pilot?
12. The sketch of Reginald Johnstone, Scottish background, his arrival, the West meeting the East, his formality, education and use of language, the training of the Emperor, the observation of the Emperor's way of life? The bicycle? The tennis game and the ousting from the Forbidden City? The farewell and its emotion? His writing a book, the reliability of his memories and the testimony of the Emperor?
13. The counterbalance of the memories of the Emperor's life and the situations in which they were remembered - at the railway station, in the camp, the commander reading Johnstone's memoirs?
14. The final impact of the film? Entertainment? Spectacle and epic? An interpretation of China?
