Farewell My Concubine - An Epic Tragedy
It’s the only Chinese film to have won the Cannes Palme d’Or, the highest prize at the festival, and it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Feature in 1993. Most of the time when I’m watching Chinese cinema or television, I’m rolling my eyes at the poor cinematography, music, storytelling, etc (see Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame or any of the multitude of pro-Communist propaganda films, old and modern). It’s easy to forget there’s indeed such a thing is not just good, but great Chinese cinematic art.
The story uses an unusual love triangle as a lens to observe China’s modern history of tumultuous political upheavals and the suffering it brings. The direction is smart, sober, and symbolically rich, the acting is downright chilling, and the story is, well, epically tragic. You sympathize with these characters despite their egregious flaws, and cringe when you watch their shortcomings unravel their lives under the stresses of life in wartorn China. I honestly didn’t know Chinese cinema was capable of a film like this. Not that China doesn’t have a rich culture and history, but with so many shoddy products around, you can’t help but be surprised that these gems do exist.
In the end, it’s appropriate I suppose. The Chinese people have suffered quite a lot in the past hundred years (really, through their entire 5,000 year history), so it’s only natural that they know something about expressing it through art.
