Film Forum

1993, China
Directed by Chen Kaige
Starring Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, Gong Li, Lu Qi, Ying Da, Ge You
Screenplay by by Lilian Lee and Lu Wei, based on the novel by Lee
Approx. 170 min. New 4K restoration of the complete uncut version.

“An unhurried journey on the great tide of modern Chinese history, this gorgeous, intoxicating epic is confident enough of its visual and narrative power not to rush the telling. Traces the complex emotional relationship between its three protagonists (Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, and Gong Li), shaped and reshaped in response to both political events and the demands of their own hearts. But here CONCUBINE throws in something of a twist. Rather than the usual romantic triangle, it has both a man and a woman passionately in love with the same man... CONCUBINE not only covers a lot of territory, its sense of visual pageantry brings all of it vividly to life.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

With support from the Ada Katz Fund for Literature in Film

 A FILM MOVEMENT RELEASE

Reviews

“Visually spectacular. Sumptuous in every respect. Intelligent, enthralling, rhapsodic.”
– Geoff Andrew, Time Out

“One of those very rare film spectacles that deliver just about everything the ads are likely to promise: action, history, exotic color, multitudes in confrontation, broad overviews of social and political landscapes, all intimately rooted in a love story of vicious intensity, the kind that plays best when it goes badly, which is most of the time. FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE is a vastly entertaining movie.”
– Vincent Canby, The New York Times

"What is amazing, given the conditions under which the film was made, is the freedom and energy with which it plays…FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE is a demonstration of how a great epic can function. Like such dissimilar films as DR. ZHIVAGO and A PASSAGE TO INDIA, it took me to another place and time, and made it emotionally comprehensible. This is one of the year's best films.”
– Roger Ebert

“Chen Kaige carries us through this early history with impressive sensitivity; he has a beautiful, graceful touch, both with the camera and with his actors.”
– Hal Hinson, Washington Post