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Films  ›  Chen Kaige

Farewell My Concubine (1993)

Film
DirectorChen Kaige
Meta takes5

Figures

Form & technique
  • The Cultural Revolution "struggle session" scene. → Melodramatic Excess
  • The film's opulent, highly aestheticized visual style.
  • The scene of Dieyi performing for the Japanese occupiers.
  • The final scene where Dieyi commits suicide using Xiaolou's sword.
Tropes
  • Cheng Dieyi's lifelong embodiment of the female opera role, Concubine Yu. → The Performed Self
  • The triangular relationship between Dieyi (art), Xiaolou (masculine tradition), and Juxian (feminine modernity). → National Allegory
  • The severing of Douzi's supernumerary finger by his mother.
  • The ritual of applying and removing the Peking Opera makeup.
  • The film's international acclaim, particularly its Palme d'Or win. → The Exoticized Other
  • Juxian's character arc, culminating in her suicide. → The Patriarchal Bargain

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