In Chen Kaige's adaptation of the Lilian Lee novel, Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Fengyi Zhang) grow up enduring the harsh training of the Peking Opera Academy, where instructors regularly beat the children as a means of instilling in them the discipline needed to master the complex physical and vocal technique. As the two boys mature, they develop complementary talents: Dieyi, with his fine, delicate features, assumes the female roles while the burlier Xiaolou plays masculine warlords. Their dramatic identities become real for Dieyi when he falls in love with Xiaolou; the resolutely heterosexual Xiaolou, however, marries a courtesan, Juxian (Gong Li), creating a dangerous, jealousy-filled romantic triangle. Spanning 50 years from the early part of the 20th century to the tumultuous Cultural Revolution, Kaige's passionate, exquisitely shot film captures the vast historical scope of a changing world (and the mesmerizing pageantry of the opera) while also providing the intimate and touching details of a unique, tender, heartrending love story.

The enduring friendship of two Chinese opera singers is put to the test by a love triangle involving a beautiful courtesan.

English subtitles by Linda Jaivin. For Miramax video releases, the subtitles are in yellow.

Additional crew: Dong Gang & Lia Baoquan (Steadicam); Tang Jirong (Peking Opera Music Designer); Tao Jing (sound recordist); Fan Qingshan and Xu Guangrui (makeup); Wang Chunpu, Zhang Ruihe, Song Wangxiang, and Zhang Jungui (set decorators); and Xhang Jinzhan, Bai Yu, Jin Ping and Zhang Jinting (assistant directors).

Additional cast: Ge You (Master Yuan); Lei Han (Adult Xiao Si); Yin Zhi (Teenage Douzi); Ma Mingwei (Douzi as child); Zhao Hailong (Teenage Shitou); and Fei Yang (Shitou as child).

"Farewell My Concubine" shared the Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival with "The Piano."

Rated BBFC 15 by the British Board of Film Classification.

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case

Gong Li: Chinese Actress/"Ju-Dou"
Leslie Cheung: Chinese actor, singer

Chen Kaige: Chinese Director

Lilian Lee: SCREENWRITER/NOVELIST

"...One of those very rare film spectacles that deliver just about everything..."
"...Seductively lensed....Zhang anchors the movie in a powerful, shaded performance..."
"...FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE is a demonstration of how a great epic can function....This is one of the year's best films..."
"...[The film has] a persuasive unity and coherence..."
"...CONCUBINE is a knockout....A fearless denunciation of those in any regime who would stifle life and art, the two being inseparable in Chen's mind..."