Farewell My Concubine (1993)
The story of two men, who met as apprentices in the Peking Opera, and stayed friends for over 50 years. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Kaige Chen
Written By: Pik Wah Lee, Bik-Wa Lei
Starring: Leslie Cheung, Gong Li, You Ge, Fengyi Zhang, Da Ying, Qi Lu
AKA: Ba wang bie ji
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Farewell My Concubine belongs to 52 collections
1. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by kozan26 - 234 stars)
2. Palme d'Or (collaborative: moderated by mpowell - 79 stars)
3. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2008 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 39 stars)
4. New York Times' The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made (collaborative: moderated by theficionado - 32 stars)
5. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2010 revision) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 32 stars)
6. The Guardian's 1000 films to see before you die (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)
7. Netflix Instant (collaborative: moderated by somnivore - 29 stars)
8. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2014 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Jehan - 27 stars)
9. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2012 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 25 stars)
10. IMDb Top 250 Complete (collaborative: moderated by Jorg - 23 stars)
11. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2017 revision) (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 22 stars)
12. Best of criticker: Drama (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 18 stars)
13. List: Empire's 100 Best Films of World Cinema (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 17 stars)
14. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2013 revision) (collaborative: moderated by rant1229 - 16 stars)
15. FIPRESCI Prize (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 14 stars)
16. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2011 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 14 stars)
17. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2020 revision) (public: djross - 14 stars)
18. films101.com's 5 star films (collaborative: moderated by ppinocchio - 11 stars)
19. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 11 stars)
20. Cross-dressing / Transvestism / Transsexuality (collaborative: moderated by Moribunny - 9 stars)
21. Sight and Sound 2002 (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 9 stars)
22. Best Foreign Film Oscar Nominees (collaborative: moderated by snallygaster - 8 stars)
23. Hong Kong Film Awards' List of The Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 6 stars)
24. List: Taschen (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 6 stars)
25. Best of criticker: Romance (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 6 stars)
26. Best by different standards (public: sesito71 - 6 stars)
27. Revolution / Revolutions (collaborative: moderated by nauru - 5 stars)
28. Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Foreign Language Film (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 4 stars)
29. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2007 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 4 stars)
30. TIME All-Time 100 (collaborative: moderated by iceblox - 3 stars)
31. Masters of Light: Modern Cinematography (collaborative: moderated by DeadFox - 3 stars)
32. China (collaborative: moderated by djross - 2 stars)
33. critique of 'real socialism's (public: ehk2 - 2 stars)
34. TimeOutShanghai's 100 best Chinese Mainland Films (public: Nroo - 2 stars)
35. Essential Films of Greater China (collaborative: moderated by PerryStroika - 1 star)
36. Foreign - Hong Kong (public: NhanLa - 1 star)
37. Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival's 100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films (public: Dr.N0 - 1 star)
38. Films considered the best from each country's National Polls (public: Hadleyreis - 1 star)
39. The Greatest Movies of All Time - Filmweb's Alternative Top 500 (public: Hadleyreis - 1 star)
40. Cannes 1993 Official Selection (collaborative)
41. Chinese Cinema (collaborative: moderated by Svengali)
42. Fifth Generation (collaborative: moderated by tirefeet)
43. Available on Divicast (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
44. Foreign films on Divicast (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
45. Movies to See (public: gsb)
46. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 7 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
47. BF-1990 (public: caffe)
48. Movies to See: Drama (public: Lord Moe)
49. 3: High Priority (Not in English) (public: KasperL)
50. Films Dunstan Owns (public: Dunstan-xxx)
51. Watchlist (public: Panunzio)
52. 90+ (public: Daria)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 1 |  |
MartinTeller | 89 92nd |
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Takes on a sweeping epic scale, and its attempt to cover such thematic breadth gives it a slightly unfocused feel. It's the film's only noteworthy flaw, though: it's extremely well-crafted with great performances all around, an unusual love triangle, and stunning photography. Chen makes excellent use of numerous callbacks and meaningful objects. The tragic moments of the story are all very heartbreaking.
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| 1 |  |
Stain | 60 47th |
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Entirely too much about Chinese opera
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| 1 |  |
JooJoo | 4 55th |
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Everything in this exists to be unremarkable.
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| 1 |  |
Icarus | 70 41st |
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Great acting that helps dull but cannot overcome the negative effects induced by excessive length and a rather conventional eye behind the camera. Once Gong Li shows up, the human drama really takes off, though it never really connects solidly with ALL THE HISTORY that is happening all around them. I think the film would be much more successful with a more subtle approach to the cultural changes.
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| 1 |  |
QVT | 25 35th |
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It took 45 minutes for the movie to get to the movie part. Then, said movie part was just as anime as the beginning, with less interesting shit going on. They mostly just talked about the beginning part. The amount of people who just burst into tears or start slapping themselves really does remind me of anime. That's a terrible thing.
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| 1 |  |
yesistasty | 96 93rd |
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Everything in this film is gorgeous, from the cyclical plot to the masterful, emotional cinematography.
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| 1 |  |
AndreasThau | 75 68th |
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Okay, so it's too long, but hell; pieces of picture poetry like some modern chinese films, are exactly the kind of films you can accept an extra half hour of. It tells the story of modern China, from the warlord era in the 20's, via the japanese invasion and the civil war to the different communist eras. Interesting, for sure. The acting is sublime, especially the beautiful Li Gong and also Fengyi Zhang impressed. Sometimes, though, it becomes weird and "undertold" which prevents understanding.
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| 1 |  |
glumpy_99 | 89 80th |
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Sweeping, graceful epic is Chen's answer to 1900 - telling the story of two men against the backdrop of a fascinating tour through modern Chinese history. Never quite tops its opening hour depicting the savage opera "boot camp", the after-effects which resonate down the years, leading to the most poignant scene where the major players from this segment are revisited. A dip into melodrama in the mid-section is a minor debit, but all is forgiven for a haunting and devastating finale.
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| 1 | johnnydark | 94 71st |
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Epic but depressing.
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| Average Percentile 68.49% from 666 Ratings |  |