Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatization of China's eleventh and final monarch of the Qing dynasty: Emperor Puyi.Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatization of China's eleventh and final monarch of the Qing dynasty: Emperor Puyi.Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatization of China's eleventh and final monarch of the Qing dynasty: Emperor Puyi.
- Won 9 Oscars
- 58 wins & 20 nominations total
Ruocheng Ying
- The Governor
- (as Ying Ruocheng)
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
- Chang
- (as Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa)
Tsou Tijger
- Pu Yi (8 years)
- (as Tijger Tsou)
Tao Wu
- Pu Yi (15 years)
- (as Wu Tao)
Guang Fan
- Pu Chieh (Adult)
- (as Fan Guang)
Best Picture Winners by Year
Best Picture Winners by Year
See the complete list of Best Picture winners. For fun, use the "sort order" function to rank by IMDb rating and other criteria.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe first Western film made in and about the country to be produced with full Chinese government cooperation since 1949.
- GoofsThe emperor was not in the Forbidden City to witness the expulsion of the eunuchs. This action was carefully planned with few people knowing, since the emperor could trust very few of his intimates. The order to remove the eunuchs was received in the City while the emperor was visiting at a friend's home. Also, not all of the eunuchs were dismissed, as the empress dowager (the wife of the late emperor) begged Pu Yi to allow a few of her personal servants to remain.
- Quotes
Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: Words are important.
Pu Yi, at 15: Why are words important?
Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: If you cannot say what you mean, Your Majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says.
- Alternate versionsThe theatrical version runs 163 minutes. A 218 minute version was released in the US in 1998 under the mistaken title of the "Director's Cut". It was known by this erroneous title until the 2008 Criterion DVD and Blu-ray Disc came out. Bertolucci and DP Vittorio Storaro made it clear while working on the DVD and BD that the shorter theatrical version is without doubt the director's cut. The 218 minute version was an early cut meant only to be aired as a four-part television mini-series by the Italian television network that funded the film.
- SoundtracksKaiser Walzer (Emperor Waltz) op. 437
Written by Johann Strauss (as Johann Strauss)
Performed by Berliner Philharmoniker (as The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra)
Conducted by Herbert von Karajan
with kind permission of Polydor International GmbH
Featured review
A sweeping epic
Every time I mention to someone that I hadn't seen The Last Emperor, the first reaction is disbelief, and the second is `It is such a good movie'. And indeed it was. I'm not sure what the non-director's cut was, because the version I saw was the director's cut, but it was absolutely fantastic. Not once did I think that the nearly four hour run time was too long because the story was so compelling, the direction brilliant and the acting engaging. I find it hard to believe that it took me this long to see this film, and I also find it hard to believe it is not in the IMDB Top 250. Its Best Picture and Director honors were well-deserved, and the Oscar-winning score is amazing. I'll admit that I was left hanging a bit in regard to the Emperor's wife, but that is the only thing that I can remotely find slightly lacking in this film. An outstanding film, The Last Emperor is entertaining, informative and important.
--Shelly
--Shelly
helpful•231
- FilmOtaku
- Apr 11, 2004
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Der letzte Kaiser
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £23,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $43,984,230
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $149,460
- Nov 22, 1987
- Gross worldwide
- $43,994,979
- Runtime2 hours 43 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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