60th Academy Awards · 1988
The Last Emperor
Directed byCooked up by Bernardo Bertolucci
“1500 slaves. 353,260,000 royal subjects. Warlords. Concubines. And 2 wives. He was the loneliest boy in the world.”
“Emperor at age two. Gardener by the end. Wild arc. 👑”
The storyThe lore 📖
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
Pu Yi becomes Emperor of China when he is only TWO, living in the Forbidden City where literally everyone bows to him. Then history speedruns: revolutions, wars, and he loses the throne, ending up as a regular gardener. From royal main character to everyday guy, the plot twist is real. Based on a true story and visually it ate. 👑🏯
What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾
Tomatometer
86%
Fresh
#75 of 98 winnersFamous linesLines living rent free
I think the Emperor is the loneliest boy on Earth.
The Forbidden City had become a theater without an audience. So, why did the actors remain on the stage?
Puyi: You saved me because I am useful to you.
Jin Yuan: Is that so terrible? To be useful?
Anything Western was good. Especially Wrigley's chewing gum, Bayer aspirin, and cars.
This isn't a school; it's a prison. A real prison.
All your life you thought you were better than everyone else. Now you think you're the worst of all!
Puyi, age 15: Does he have a car?
Reginald Johnston: He lived a long time ago, Your Majesty.
Puyi, age 15: I want a car.
The Americans believe everyone is born good. You must be judged.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍
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Forbidden City
Beijing, China
Bertolucci was the first Western filmmaker allowed to shoot here, using it for the first 90 minutes and the ending.
Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓
- The Last Emperor was the first Western feature film the People's Republic of China authorized to shoot inside Beijing's Forbidden City, which serves as the setting for the film's first 90 minutes and its ending.Wikipedia · Lead
- The film went nine for nine at the 60th Academy Awards, winning every Oscar it was nominated for, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.Wikipedia · Lead
- Producer Jeremy Thomas raised the $25 million budget for the independent production single-handedly, at one stage scouring the phone book for potential financiers.Wikipedia · Development
- Bertolucci pitched the Chinese government two possible projects, this one and an adaptation of André Malraux's Man's Fate; the Chinese preferred The Last Emperor.Wikipedia · Development
- The production needed 19,000 extras over the course of filming, and the People's Liberation Army was drafted in to supply them.Wikipedia · Filming
- Before shooting the Cultural Revolution parade, Bertolucci gathered young Chinese directors including Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou to ask about that era, and recalled they began acting it out and crying, "like I was watching a psychodrama."Wikipedia · Filming
- Jeremy Thomas said getting the script approved by the Chinese government was "less difficult than working with the studio system": they made some notes, changed some names, then "the stamp went on and the door opened."Wikipedia · Historical accuracy
- Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto also appears in the film as an actor, and he shared the score credit with David Byrne and Cong Su; the score won a Grammy Award.Wikipedia · Lead
- A Japanese distributor quietly cut a 30-second sequence depicting the Rape of Nanjing; Bertolucci called the unauthorized edit "revolting" and the scene was quickly restored.Wikipedia · Release
- The real Jin Yuan, the prison warden Puyi spars with in the film, appears in the movie as the party boss who delivers Puyi's pardon.Wikipedia · Cast