“Enchanting and thrilling”: this masterpiece of Chinese cinema hits theaters and will amaze you

Directed by Chen Kaiji, Adieu ma concubine won the top prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d’Or (tied with Jane Campion’s The Piano Lesson). For the 30th anniversary of its theatrical release, this masterpiece returns to the big screen in a restored 4K version.

This beautiful mural takes us back to Beijing in 1924. Duzi enters Master Guan’s academy to study the art of Chinese opera. Very quickly, he befriends young Shittu. As teenagers, two boys get the lead roles in the opera “Adieu ma concubine”, King Chu and his mistress Yu.

Ten years later, now known as Diei and Xiaolu, the inseparable Duzi and Shitu tirelessly perform the same opera. But the uprising will happen soon. Douzi, always in love with his partner, learns about Shitu’s engagement with the ex-prostitute, Jukian…

Farewell My Concubine takes us to the heart of a turbulent period in Chinese history. With the 3 o’clock story of this river, Chen Kaige not only offers a dazzling aesthetic spectacle; He also criticizes the liberticidal practices established by the Chinese government after the Cultural Revolution.

Note that the feature film features notable actors Gong Li, Zhang Feng, and the late Leslie Cheng, who died in 2003. Suffering from chronic depression, he ended his life at the age of 46. The Hong Kong superstar of the 80s and 90s, the artist left a great void in the world of cinema after his tragic death.

The genesis of the project

Originally, Adieu ma concubine is a novel published in 1985 by Hong Kong writer Lilian Lee. Producer Hsu Feng presented the book to film director Chen Kaige at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and proposed a film adaptation. Two years later, the director accepted the project after meeting the novelist Lillian Lee.

Chen Kaige signed the draft, subject to some changes. Thus, he added a prologue and an epilogue that took place in 1979 and decided to change the connections between the characters.

“It was only after thinking about it that I found the basic idea on which to build the script: the idea that people are often victims of circumstances. them. For example, Yuxiani. In the novel, he is quite weak. character”The director explains.

“But I told myself that the film wouldn’t survive if it didn’t have a strong female character. The script is really based on the relationship between the three characters of Duan Xiaolu, Chen Die and Zhuqian, each of whom can take turns to come to the fore depending on the point of view.”Chen Kaige analyzes.

Eternal regret

Moreover, if the filmmaker decided to adapt the novel, it is also for personal reasons. At the age of 14, Kaige denounced his own father under pressure from the Chinese authorities. A film director and opera lover, Chen Huaikai, the director’s father, was a member of the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party, the oldest political party in modern China.

His father’s joining this political force cost Kaige his integration into the Red Guard. This movement consisted mainly of students and high school students, which Mao Zedong used from the summer of 1966 to 1968 to continue the process of the Cultural Revolution. Young Chen Kaig desperately wanted to integrate into this group and chose to condemn his father in order to achieve this. He will regret this for the rest of his life.

“When the Red Guards appeared, I tried to join them. I wanted to be part of a group, not to be a lonely teenager anymore. I was afraid. The Red Guards didn’t want me because my father knew I was part of the Kuomintang. I was the enemy’s son. I learned the Little Red Book.” By word of mouth, like everyone else, I took part in rallies. they finally accepted me”The director recalls.

“Then the Red Guards broke into our house and forced my sick mother to stand in the corner for four hours. When they offered her a chair, she refused. I didn’t protect her, I blamed myself, I was torn, how can it be?” Do I show love to my parents and, at the same time, am I at the service of the people? As a director, I now have a responsibility: I have to say what I did, how I exposed my father, it torments me, and this torment is found in Adieu ma concubine”Chen Kaige said.

In this sense, the scenes of the trials of the young Maoists echo this brutal and painful moment in his life in a sad and terrifying way. “Adieu ma concubine transports you to another world, immerses you in the struggle of its characters and leaves an indelible mark on your soul”Director Guillermo del Toro said about Chen Kaige’s film. For famed filmmaker Von Kar-Wai, an honest father is a concubine “A thrilling and fascinating film.”

If you’ve never seen it or if you’d like to see it again in a restored version, it hits theaters on August 16th.