The Last Emperor

PG-13

Released Nov 18, 1987

2 hr. 42 min.

Biography

History

Drama

List

86%

124 Reviews

Tomatometer

88%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

This sweeping account of the life of Pu Yi (John Lone), the last emperor of China, follows the leader's tumultuous reign. After being captured by the Red Army as a war criminal in 1950, Pu Yi recalls his childhood from prison. He remembers his lavish youth in the Forbidden City, where he was afforded every luxury but unfortunately sheltered from the outside world and complex political situation surrounding him. As revolution sweeps through China, the world Pu Yi knew is dramatically upended.

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Critics Consensus

While Bernardo Bertolucci's decadent epic never quite identifies the dramatic pulse of its protagonist, stupendous visuals and John Lone's ability to make passivity riveting give The Last Emperor a rarified grandeur.

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Sabrina

The directors version has more details to build up the deep emotion. Especially after the Emperor claimed the throne of Manchu Guo.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/21/23

Full Review

George L

The best movie I have ever seen. It was recommended to us by 2 different tour guides of Chinese heritage during our visit to China. The amazing story it tells is the true history of 20th century China from Qing dynasty through communism. Much of it was filmed in The Forbidden City of Beijing before westerners had access and before it became the tourist mecca it is today. It's a spectacularly beautiful film. Many of the professional film critics' reviews criticize the "plot", not recognizing that the movie is a historical narrative of the vastly changing culture of more than a billion people.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/14/24

Full Review

Blob 9

The loneliest boy in the world, forever a prisoner. The story flows to and fro in poignant fashion, aided by arresting visuals that appear bleak in the present and vivid in the past; and culminates as not just an epic tale of Chinese history, but a sad depiction of a man who never lived the life he wanted.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/24

Full Review

Alec B

The perspective and narrative are obviously very Western in execution but Bertolucci was making this for American and European audiences. It is accessible history that is still fairly honest. I do wish the final section was a lot longer as I think that's where the film's most compelling stretch falls.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/09/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Not a lot of big names aside from Peter O' Toole A terrific performance by Jon Leone even if it pushes it going at 2 and a half hours The camerawork is magnificent even if the script is less than the sum of its parts The film also acts as a mediation on monarchy but also chronicles delusion and debachuary Succeeds by being unsentimental with a terrific performance by Leone And it ends on poetic concision with a ruler that lived until the very end of his reign in life not just his title

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/24/23

Full Review

John A

[Theatrical Cut] Engrossing true story with a significant amount of historical scale and depth.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/13/23

Full Review

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Bernardo Bertolucci

Director

John Lone

Emperor (Henry) Pu Yi

Joan Chen

Empress (Elizabeth) Wan Jung

Peter O'Toole

Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston

Ying Ruocheng

The Governor

Victor Wong

Chen Pao Shen

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

Bertolucci makes pretty pictorial music, but two hours and forty-six minutes is a long time for a movie to dance. Maybe it wouldn't be if his sense of rhythm hadn't become erratic.

Sep 15, 2023

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

Yet there’s also a great sadness in the film, as it tracks Puyi, the emperor of the title (played by four actors at different ages), through a state of permanent lifelong imprisonment, from gilded cage to Red Army capture.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 17, 2023

Full Review

Peter Rainer

Los Angeles Herald Examiner

When this film really sings, it's as if Bertolucci had tapped the wellspring of cinema and, ecstatic, discovered the eroticism at its essence.

Aug 8, 2022

Full Review

Mark Johnson

Awards Daily

The Last Emperor is a gorgeously shot, decade-spanning biopic with an international cast and an incredible propensity to recreate the Qing Dynasty China era. It’s one of those films I admire more each time I view it.

Jun 14, 2023

Full Review

Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

A beautiful portrait of a young man who is burdened from the beginning from a country he knows nothing of as radical change sweeps up around him.

Mar 8, 2023

Full Review

Joe Muldoon

Battle Royale With Cheese

An absolute odyssey of a film, it is as intriguing visually as it is storywise.

Feb 26, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

This sweeping account of the life of Pu Yi (John Lone), the last emperor of China, follows the leader's tumultuous reign. After being captured by the Red Army as a war criminal in 1950, Pu Yi recalls his childhood from prison. He remembers his lavish youth in the Forbidden City, where he was afforded every luxury but unfortunately sheltered from the outside world and complex political situation surrounding him. As revolution sweeps through China, the world Pu Yi knew is dramatically upended.

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Executive Producer: John Daly
Screenwriter: Mark Peploe, Bernardo Bertolucci, Henry Pu-yi
Distributor: Columbia Pictures, Artisan Entertainment
Production Co: Recorded Picture Company (RPC), Hemdale Studios
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Biography, History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 18, 1987, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 15, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $43.0M
Sound Mix: Surround

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