Farewell My Concubine

Farewell My Concubine tells the story of the lives of two boys who are disregarded by their families and given away to an acting troop. The acting troop leader is a cruel man who beats the children if he doesn't like the way they do things. Douzi and Shitou meet when Douzi's mother drops him off at the acting troop only after cutting off his extra finger. The two become best friends who often stand up for one another. Eventually as time passes the two are no longer part of the cruel acting troop but are famous opera singers.

The lives of the two are now consumed by their fame and the opera. As time goes on they meet many other people of high class and are living well. Until, Shitou meets a woman, Juxian. She is a prostitute who Shitou falls in love with and gets married to. This makes Douzi extremely jealous, he feels betrayed by Shitou and most of the story from here on revolves around Shitou's betrayal of Douzi. There are many historical events that take place as time passes in the story. Both men find themselves in trouble with the law at different points and somehow find their way out of it. With all of the changes in government and all the different audiences they have each time their country is in another powers hands.

There is one thing that does not change and that is the opera. Douzi does not care who is in the audience he is just there to give it his all each and every time he takes the stage at the opera. To him the opera is more than just an act like it is to Shitou. It has become his life, he is not happy unless he is on stage and he carries his character into his life offstage often. This causes problems for Douzi especially when he is not able to understand Shitou's feelings for Juxian. There are many points in the film when the two are at each others throats and seem to hate one another but eventually the film ends with the two of them now old rehearsing in costume. Douzi then grabs the sword out of Shitou's sheath and kills himself. The film then fades to black and it is over.

First off this film was very interesting, the story, the cinematography, the costumes, and most importantly the historical references. I found it very effective how the use of important historical events in the history of China were used to show the passing of time through the characters lives. This is something I have rarely seen in any film outside of documentaries. I feel that it was a very effective story not only because it was a good story but because it was a raw story. Everything was shown from the beatings to the hardships the film displayed everything so that the viewer could clearly see how it actually was. The way in which the characters are back and forth throughout the film adds to the drama that the story possesses.

The ending ultimately sums up the story with Douzi killing himself. There are many ways you can look at it. I personally fell that its not as much as him wanting to die as it was symbolic of his on stage life controlling his real life. He feels that Shitou is really his king and that he is really the Concubine. To see his King fall in love with a woman he feels betrayed and broken hearted and might not have wanted to continue on.