The Last EmperorNotwithstanding its cast of 2,000 extras, The Last Emperor is an intimately wrought drama, centred on the extraordinary life of Pu Yi (played as an adult by John Lone). Made emperor at the age of three, on the eve of four decades of radically transformative political and cultural upheaval, Pu Yi becomes a pawn in the political machinations of foreign and domestic powers, but ultimately achieves a kind of grace in his detachment and lack of worldly ambition.
An epic not merely in scale but also in geopolitical terms - Bertolucci and his crew were granted unprecedented access to Beijing locations inside the Forbidden City - The Last Emperor was honoured with nine Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Bertolucci penned the screenplay with brother-in-law Mark Peploe, with whom he would also collaborate on The Sheltering Sky and Little Buddha).
The film reunited Bertolucci with Ferdinando Scarfiotti, his distinguished Production Designer on The Conformist (1970), and long-time collaborator Vittorio Storaro as Director of Photography. They received Oscars for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography respectively.
Inexplicably, the Academy failed to recognise either John Lone's nuanced lead performance or Peter O'Toole's wonderful supporting role as the young Pu Yi's tutor.
New 35mm print.
"Magnificent, pioneering.cinema. But.don't be misled by all the pomp and glory.it's not just an epic but also a.film in which the scope of David Lean has been enriched with the vision of Ozu." - David Thomson, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film
