Original subtitles

PRODUCED BY TOMSON FILM co. LTD. (HONG KONG)

THE MAKING OF "FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE"

'Farewell My Concub/he "

fel/s the sro/y of lhe s/rugg/e between the Chu ano' Han /r/ngs.

The /r/hg had once been all-powe/ful,

buf /n the end all he had le# was one woman ana' one horse.

He wanted /7/'3 concub/he lo 27ee, but she sfayea'.

For 1/76' Ve/y las¡ I/Ine, Concub/he Yu ,noz/red u//ne for her /r/ng

and dancea' for /rim w/fh a sword

then cu¡ /78/ ¡broa! w/fh il, ¡ã/?hfu/ to me /r/hg unlo death.

D/éy/j/

Chen Dieyi is an extreme narcissist

and is very self-assured on the stage.

Duan Xiaolou has a fellow apprentice, hisjunior, named Chen Dieyi,

played by Leslie Cheung.

ROLES

Chen Dieyi is egotistical and a narcissist.

The character himself has had an unfortunate life.

When he was just a few years old,

he was abandoned by his mother.

Before reuniting with his lover in his sixties,

he had not had a good life.

The most satisfying moment was performing Chinese opera on stage,

when he performed Farewell My Concub/he

with his fellow apprentice.

That was the most glorious time of his life.

On the other hand, he is quite aggressive emotionally.

In addition, his life was rather empty.

In the Iatter part, when Juxian took his Xiaolou away.

I wanted to make sure that I expressed this kind of feeling in the ñlm.

Come.

Le! me /htroduce you.

7/7/19 /19 Axl/iss .lux/an.

7h13 /19 my stage brother.

Ah, M33 .lux/an. I must be going.

I'm not Chen Dieyi.

I mean, I'm not Chen Dieyi in real life,

because, frankly speaking, I have a far happier life than him.

Nonetheless, I Iove playing the role.

Basically, I enjoy playing a tragic role.

This is a very successful ñlm.

It is a brilliant, artistic ñlm.

I hope that everyone will enjoy it.

Juxian used to be a prostitute.

In the '30s, she was a well-known prostitute in Beijing.

Later she married Duan Xiaolou.

She really loved Duan Xiaolou, who always played noble warriors in the opera,

and she was ready to help him at any cost.

However, she met her fate during the Cultural Revolution.

She committed suicide by hanging herself.

She didn't get what she had Ionged for her whole life.

I love this kind of magnanimous woman, a big-hearted lady.

I think the best part of the script

is her understanding of Chen Dieyi, in the end.

She died the day after she was denounced in the Cultural Revolution.

Chen Dieyi revealed that she was a prostitute

and Duan Xiaolou also announced he had never loved her.

Finally, the director asked me

to hand Duan Xiaolou's sword to Chen Dieyi.

I believe this shot shows that she has finally understood this man,

and then she's gone.

I think Juxian is a very strong woman,

a woman with strong maternal instincts.

The theme of the ñIm is betrayal.

This betrayal begins with the story of these two people.

The relationship between two apprentices,

Chen Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou,

began in a training school for the Peking Opera in the 19205,

and developed into a very deep emotional relationship.

This is the basis of the whole film.

The most important character in the ñlm

is Chen Dieyi, played by Leslie Cheung.

His is a very difñcult role to play,

one that involves a lot of emotional nuance.

How does one convey that, with precision

and how to interpret the inner life of Chen Dieyi exactly and incisively,

with the feeling deep inside that 'I'm a female,

'and I'm the second Concubine Yu'?

I had talked to western journalists before.

In all my ñlms, I said

there is always one character with whom I totally identify, spiritually.

In the case of Farewell, that character is Cheng Dieyi.

DIRECTOR

I still remember the ñrst time I met with Chen Kaige, in Hong Kong.

He was staying in a hotel, at the time,

and when I met him,

I discovered that he is a very talented director,

rather than a so-so one.

He talked to me...

not about whether I would take the role on,

but about how to do the role justice,

because we both knew the ñlm would be controversial.

It's a gay storyline.

What he said to me moved me deeply.

He said that were in 1992, and not 1929,

so it shouldn't be as sensitive as before.

Jus! /r/'l/ me, W/I y don 'f you?

D/'a' I reach you fo play w/fh cria/rats.?

D/a'/ !each you to pau/n your costumes?

T o desecrafe the opera!

60007 I deserve ¡t/

Hola' on./

That beating was real,

because I would rather have a real beating than a fake one.

Despite numerous takes of fake beatings, the result was not satisfying.

The effect was much better with the real beating.

Chen Kaige didn't ask for the bare-buttock beating.

I proposed it.

My view was based on the story

about them being beaten on the bare buttocks in their childhood,

so to have them wearing pants as adults did not seem consistent.

It would be more dramatic

if a grown man's pants were pulled down before he was beaten by his master.

That's what it's like, in childhood.

A man bent over a stool, beaten on his bare buttocks.

I told Chen Kaige it was better to beat the naked buttocks.

Leslie Cheung said, "I don't want to bare my buttocks."

I said, "I don't mind.

"Let me do it."

One thing about Chen Kaige...

is that before the shooting of any scene,

he would gather the actors together for a meeting.

He would tell you how he would like the scene performed,

in a very detailed and precise way.

He wouldn't leave you in the slightest bit of doubt whatsoever.

Throughout the ñlm,

each actor is very successful.

Gong Li, Zhang Fengyi and Ge You, and so on...

They're all competent actors.

After meeting with Chen Kaige

and discussing how to approach the ñlm,

we arrived on set with enough conñdence

to make a good ñlm.

In addition to having an enjoyable story for the audience,

and the best cast,

the director is central in delivering the message of this ñIm.

I think that in Farewell, this is what Chen Kaige has done.

Don 'f/

/fís a real sword¡

PRODUCTION

When I ñrst met Hsu Feng,

she told me about Farewell My Concub/ha

which was written by Lilian Lee.

She had acquired the ñlm rights to the novel.

I was living in the United States, at the time.

Having left it to gestate for a while,

I suddenly felt I could master the subject matter.

It took us nearly a year of going back and forth,

with two writers preparing the script.

I wanted to put a lot of time and effort into it.

That was considerably effective.

I am very satisñed with the ñnal draft.

Firstly, I'm grateful to Lilian Lee,

because in two of her novels,

she based her protagonists on me.

When I ñrst came across this novel,

I bought a copy.

It was 12 years ago.

At that time, it was a controversial role.

I felt that I was incapable of doing it

and that I could not meet the challenge

as I had my public image as a singer to consider.

It's different now, though,

because now I'm a professional actor

and I no longer sing.

I see myself as a serious actor,

therefore I have the courage to accept this challenge.

During the making of the ñlm,

I studied a lot of material to do with prostitutes.

My schoolmate was very helpful.

She gave me some books.

Books on prostitutes before the Cultural Revolution.

I have also read some others books on the lives of prostitutes.

I tried to ñnd out about the life of one in a theatrical troupe,

since my role would be that of the wife of a famous actor,

So, I had to know something about a theatrical troupe.

When I arrived in Beijing,

initially, it was really important for me

to meet professional Chinese opera singers.

To learn about Chinese opera from them.

Beijing opera is a sophisticated art.

As you can see from my performance on screen,

I have not captured this great art form accurately,

but going on the feedback I have received from the professionals,

they still think highly of my performance.

It wasn't easy,

so I'm happy about that.

They had, in fact, arranged for me to have two stand-ins.

In the ñnal film,

they were never used.

I felt so relieved,

because that's the result of my hard work.

When I ñrst arrived in Beijing,

I was very absorbed in the opera training

and the linguistic training.

It was very painful.

To be honest, the most unpleasant scene was

the denouncement scene during the Cultural Revolution.

It was almost early summer when we shot that scene.

It's very hot in Beijing in June.

The temperature was already 33 degrees.

On a sunny day and in 33-degree heat,

I had to put on all the headgear and all the opera costumes,

acting on my knees in front of a big ñre

for three days in similar conditions.

It was very painful.

The most difñcult part was

the scene where I have to jump out of the House of Blossoms.

That was the most memorably difñcult scene.

Not from an acting point of view,

but because a Iot of people were waiting for me to jump,

and I was supposed to go straight into the next scene,

jumping down from a platform about 2.5 metres above ground.

That was frightening.

Immediately after Ianding on the floor, I had to criticise the brothel customers.

I thought I might forget the lines after jumping.

It had to be one continuous shot, without any break.

What's more, I had to hit my mark on Ianding.

That was very difñcult for me at the time.

Act/on!

/4/7/

These guys are revo/r/hg/

They were forc/hg me lo dr/n/r wine from lhe/r maul/Ls.

Come an, arse/¡o/es. Jump!

7h13 /adyb done it. Non/ie your ¡um!

Hola' on.

THE 1993 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

WINNING THE PALME D'OR AWARD AT THE CANNES IN 1993

THE PREMIERE OF "FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE" IN HONG KONG

THIS FILM WON 11 INTERNATIONAL FILM AWARDS

Acknowledgement Rock Records Co., Ltd

Theme song: "When Love Has Become The Past"

Photographers: Jin Pin, Zhang Bianyi, Jiang Hua

Music Director: Zhao Jipin

Producer in the later period: Xinyu Digital Production Co., Ltd

Supervisor: Xu Feng