Farewell My Concubine

+ introduction by Carol-Mei Barker, BFI Programme Lead for Schools and Specialist in Chinese Cinema

Ba wang bie ji

Chen Kaige’s portrait of life and opera across 50 years of China’s tumultuous recent past is a grandiose and richly-drawn masterpiece.

  • Director

    Chen Kaige

  • With

    Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, Gong Li

  • China-Hong Kong 1993. 171min

  • Digital 4K (restoration)

  • Certificate

    15

  • English subtitles

Spanning 50 years and a lifelong relationship amidst the violence and upheaval of national civil unrest, this unflinching epic balances intimate romance and devastating scale to heartbreaking effect. Adapted from the novel by Lilian Lee (author of Rouge), the tale of Dieyi and Xiaolou carries us through brutal training, political turmoil, opera stardom and a love triangle that will tear you apart.