|
| Last Emperor, The |
|
  (7/10)
|
Runtime: 160 |
| Public Rating: 8.91 (35 votes) |
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Drama |
Year: 1987 |
| Writer(s): Bernardo Bertolucci, Mark Peploe, Enzo Ungari |
| Reviewed by: Vadim Rizov |
| |
For all of the visual splendor, fine acting and sweeping direction, The Last Emperor is an awfully hollow movie. This story of a man who began his life as the symbolic boy ruler of China and ended it as a gardener in the "People's Republic" of China has for characters only enigmas (such as the emperor [John Lone, who never had a career beforehand and has gone back since to cheesy B-movies and less] and his wife [Joan Chen]) or stereotypes (such as the emperor's tutor, Reginald Johnston [Peter O'Toole]), leaving the viewer stranded in a hostile cinematic landscape without anything to hold on - which may be the point, but it's none too helpful.
Anyway, The Last Emperor is a director's movie through and through. Bertolucci displays his unparalled visual compositions, courtesy of his collaboration with the extra-ordinary cinematography Vittorio Storaro. Anybody who's seen Tango knows that Storaro can singlehandedly make any movie worth seeing. His canvases here are drenched in monochrome, and often full of splendid spectacle, especially in the early parts of the movie, set inside the Forbidden City.
Indeed, the people populating the screen seen almost secondary to Bertolucci's concerns. In this case, he's obsessing over the problems of inherited power, Mao's revolution, matters of personal identity - seem-ingly anything but his protagonist. Indeed, for a while it seems difficult to believe that the movie actually has a point - that is, until the splendid ending, when we finally get a sense of what it's all about (all power corrupts everyone, etc.). Up until then, the movie shocks and repels for about the first 20 minutes, as Bertolucci shows us brutal scenes of a child torn from his parents at age 3, a repellent childhood spent forming the emperor's selfish nature, his stuffy life, etc. Then, for about the next hour and a half, the movie genuinely entertains. At this point, the emperor is still an active and somewhat engaging character. Peter O'Toole becomes damn near heroic as his tutor - his character might be the typical "warm, life-changing teacher" stereotype, but O'Toole brings some much-needed warmth and sincerity to the movie.
However, the movie, like the emperor, takes a turn for the worse when he leaves his palace and moves to Tientsin, beginning to indulge in heavy self-delusion. Bertolucci gives us not a single active character, leaving us nothing to look at but seemingly endless scenes of suicide, murder, opium smoking, etc. This endless cycle wearies us, as Bertolucci repeatedly slams through his message about how bad inherited power. When we finally arrive at the emperor's Communist "remolding," we begin to see a glimmer of hope, and we finally come full circle in two marvelous sequences - the first dealing with Mao's revolution, in which the now-gardener citizen is told by a "revolutionary leader," "Comrade, join us or fuck off!" (although most everything else in the movie is in the real Pu Yi's autobiography, those two scenes aren't), and in the beautiful finale. It all seems to be the work of a disillusioned socialist (autobiographical elements, Mr. Bertolucci?). I didn't see the director's cut, but it was easy to see which parts of the movie needed additional scenes - as well as which parts needed significant trimming. A very mixed bag, which is nevertheless required viewing for everyone, if only for the indelible impression it makes on you.
|
 Printable Version
|
Do you agree/disagree with this review of Last Emperor, The? Let your opinions be heard in our forum.
|
Buy the Poster of Last Emperor, The (Click Here)
|
|
|
|
