Farewell my Concubine (1993).
(Ba wang bie ji, Chen Kaige, China/Hong Kong 1993, 157 min., 35mm, Mandarin w/subtitles)
Summer of Solidarity. Life imitates art for a handful of characters in the Peking Opera who perform the title tragedy. Hong Kong pop star Leslie Cheung turns in an amazing performance as the concubine, a pained and jealous man unable to distinguish between male or female, reality or dream, and doomed never to achieve his one desire: his king’s love. The makeup, costuming, and production design are immensely detailed in a film that spans fifty years of modern Chinese history. This astonishingly beautiful epic is one of the greatest films produced in China.
Free admission.
This film series is organized by the George Eastman Museum in partnership with the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley, ImageOut: The Rochester LGBT Film Festival, and The MOCHA Center / Trillium Health. Generously sponsored by Trillium Health.