Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, violent, and disturbing Chinese history lesson
Review: This award-winning 1993 Chinese film is an epic in every sense of the word. It is not only the story of some very interesting characters, it is also the story of the Peking Opera as well as modern Chinese history from 1924 to 1977. It is beautiful and sad and violent and romantic. And, along the way, I learned a lot about Chinese opera.The performers are all male, and training for the young boys is harsh. Apprentices start in early childhood. They are beaten often for such infractions as forgetting their lines. They are forced to kneel for hours holding up buckets water. They are stretched into split positions in torturous agony. And yet, as we follow the story of two of these young boys, we come to understand that this horrible treatment resulted in classically trained performers, some of whom rose to great fame. This is the story of two young orphan friends, Dousi and Shitou, played by three sets of actors depicting their childhood, then adolescence, then adulthood (and cast so well that it really seemed like the same actors growing up). Dousi is more delicate and excels in the role of the concubine. Shitou is more robust and always plays the king in "Farewell My Concubine" which is a classic Chinese opera. It's easy to see that Dousi is in love with Shitou but Shitou favors women and marries a the lovely Juxian, who he meets in a brothel. Immediately, there's a love triangle. All this is set against the backdrop of first the Japanese invasion, then the Nationalist Army and then the Communists. The characters suffer through all this and adapt and struggle. There are horrible moments, especially when they renounce each other during the cultural revolution. My emotions were touched by their plight because I really felt I knew each of these people. I didn't even mind the almost-three-hour-long film because it seemed I was actually living their lives right with them. And there was no way it could have been told in a shorter time. I loved this film. It's disturbing, of course. But yet, I came away with an understanding of China that I could never get from merely reading history books. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An unforgettable masterpiece of the modern Chinese cinema
Review: I have to confess here that Farewell my concubine got me into the far eastern cinema. After many advises from the Chinese friends (I was a student back then)I decided to see this film without expecting much. In the end I was stunned by the beauty and power of this film.
Kaige directs a story of 2 opera actor (friends) from their childhood to post cultural revolution China. From the opera training onwards we not only see their lives as actors that influenced by many events, we also witness the emergence of new China.With the time period stretching from the rise of the conciousness of nationalism ,story moves thru second world war and Japanese invasion, Chinese civil war and mao era. Kaige does a wonderful job of telling the stories of Chinese people and the effects of the political climate over them.Confusion after confusion follows the characters on every turn of the history. Kaige tells his story with realistic camera shots and aided by excellent acting by Cheung,Li and Zhang. Portrayal of landscapes and people are all remarkable.
The lives of main characters are also well structured and told with aspects like the Cheung's hidden homosexuality and love towards his friend. Zhang and Cheung's friendship help them to overcome hard times. Also Gong Li's struggle to become a normal wife after living in brothel, is envied and challenged secretly by the Cheung. Just like the opera story film starts , emerges and ends tragically.
In sum , farewell my concubine is an award winner excellent movie. The film gets as realistic as it is without falling in to the trap of exaggerating any occasion. Both in terms of telling the story of characters as well as the climate in changing China, Kaige manages to balance everything so well and thus coming up with a classic. Check out to Live and Blue Kite also as similar films If you are interested .
Rating: 
Summary: Disgusting garbage! RETCH!!
Review: Wish I could give this flick a "0." OK, I guess a bunch of "fringe element" folks reviewed this movie and gave it glowing reviews here because it spoke to them, literally and figuratively. I found the violence and child abuse in this movie to simply be a deal breaker, no two ways about it. Over and over and over little boys are beaten, sexually abused and humiliated. For a certain crowd, perhaps most of the reviewers here, I guess that was a big turn-on or perhaps they identified with that "scene" because they lived it when they were young and maybe still "groove" on it today. I threw the DVD case at the TV while the mouth-torture scene was going on, and hit the "OFF" button on the DVD controller. I can't believe this crap got so many favorable reviews here.
If you are into perversions and abuse, by all means, see this film. If, on the other (six-fingered chopped down to five-fingered) hand, you have sympathy and empathy for the abused and cannot stand to see horrible violence done to children, let this piece of crap stay on the video rental shop shelf. It stinks!
Rating:
Summary: a must see
Review: This is a bittersweet love saga between loyalty of friends, lovers - a real and powerful illustration of human interaction that depicts layers of hatred/love, obsession/passion to the chinese opera, setting in between the 2-4 and 7-7 communist movement upheaval. I've been a Leslie Cheung fan for 5yrs now, and naturally I view all of his films with a pair of analytical lens. He is the most fascinating character in this film. From the beginning, his sense of identity is confused. Not only is he attracted to men, but his role as a woman creates a certain ambivalence about his own gender. In childhood, the refrain soliloquy of 'I am a girl' is drilled into him so that he can effectively assume the role of the concubine in the opera; but, his self-identity blurs/entangles in the contrast between life on stage vs. real life. This is definitely a film worth watching, both epic and intimate, literal and emotional. I also loved the theme song by Leslie Cheung too, where he sings "Wei sheh meh nee boo dong, you le ai jui you tong.(why is it that you don't understand, where there is love, there is also pain.)"
Rating: 
Summary: Not For Me
Review: There is a reason this movie is rated R. It is graphic and crude. I could not even sit through the entire movie. I think it was made worse than most R movies because the violence was directed toward children. Still, I give this movie credit for it's historical value. The events in this film were realities for too many children of the era. Bottom line: well done for what it is.
Rating:
Summary: A True Masterpiece
Review: "Farewell My Concubine" was released exactly 10 years ago (1993). I meant to rent it for the longest time, because I've heard nothing but rave reviews about the director, the actors, and the storyline. I finally rented the director's cut DVD this weekend. It was nearly 3 hours long and worth every minute of my time. Sadly to say, Leslie Cheung, the male lead in the film, suddenly committed suicide in Hong Kong on April 1st. His death prompted me to rent "Farewell My Concubine," which I heard was one of the BEST performances of his career. Cheung plays an emotionally tormented character, Douzi, who was raised in a strict and often brutal Beijing opera school. The film follows Douzi from childhood to adulthood. Cheung gave an emotional and moving performance. The other actors in the cast, Gong Li (the beautiful and talented actress who starred in "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Temptress Moon"), and actor Zhang Fengyi also gave outstanding performances. Since Cheung's recent death, director Chen Kaige has said Leslie Cheung IS the character he played in "Farewell My Concubine." There is a hint of sadness mixed with helplessness and charisma surrounding Cheung's character. The dramatic and chilling ending moved me. I highly recommend this film to not just fans of Chinese cinema, but to all audiences who can appreciate a beautifully acted, well scripted, and brilliantly shot film.
Rating:
Summary: Sweeping epic offers a musical Chinese history lesson.
Review: I rented "Farewell My Concubine" last fall after reading many positive reviews on Amazon.com and other film sites. I have always been a fan of Chinese music, especially opera, and I watch Peking Operas on TV every week. Having a whole movie revolve around the dizzying world of Peking Opera was a brilliant idea. All of the performances are astounding, especially from Leslie Cheung. Granted, Chinese Opera is an acquired taste, the feminine parts sung by males in a very nasal falsetto. But "Farewell My Concubine" is more than just a musical legacy. It is a tale of friendship, loyalty, passion and betrayal on a grand scale, including the attempted destruction of Chinese Opera during the Cultural Revolution. My only complaint is the scenes of the two actors in "present day" China...they do not seem any older than when we first saw them as twentysomethings even though they would be forty years older. But this is an excellent movie, although long and very intense in some spots (rape, suicide, drug use). It certainly gave me new respect for Peking Opera and the sacrifices that were made in the name of music.
Rating:
Summary: beautiful, touching+gorgeous
Review: This film was absolutely THE BEST film ever, it is beyond "beautiful" or "touching", leslie cheung who played DieYi was simply gorgeous and has such a sadness and certain charisma to him.
It's about two boys who grew up together in the BeiJing Opera troupe, and the two grew up with a special friendship that cannont be brocken, but are both physically+emotionally tortured by the polical unstabilities of China, esp. the infamous and ferocious Cult.Revolution.
If you watch this film, you can't help but stare at leslie cheung as DieYi, his performance is truly touching.
But you have to have some background knowledge though: to train to be a BeiJing opera performer, you have to go through many hardships starting when you're just a little boy, that includes getting beat by your teacher, it's called increasing your discipline, sort of like in military--it's not all fun is it, but it's for your own good; to whomever called it "child abuse", i am sure you're not Asian and know absolutely crap about Chinese, judging by your review, well first of all, it is DEFINATELY not child abuse, the teachers want the students to become fine performers + that's why they were so strict, it's for their own good, and it's been carried out like that forever, it's a little something called "tradition", and while you may not understand another culture other than your own, you have no right to diss it like that, because it is very offending. Next time, do a little research on a movie like that, don't EVER pass your opinion on something you don't know about.
Rating:
Summary: Crappy quality
Review: If you've spent thousands on your own home movie theatre system, forget about this DVD -- the insane level of Macrovision used on this DVD will prevent you from even playing it! The DVD will ONLY play in a standard, no frills, set top stand-alone DVD player connected ONLY to your TV -- forget about fancy hookups-- it just will not play. And if you are like me, and have a high definition system hooked up through a digital connector, forget it--you will NOT be able to play this DVD. Miramax -- take your head out of your Millenium Digital Copyright arse and realize that Macrovision will piss off more legitimate buyers than prevent the pennies in copyright infringement. Sheesh.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Greats
Review: This is one of the best films ever made. a story of love and betrayal, friendship and loneliness, and a critique of the chinese government, set in a chaotic period in chinese history. it is about two boys who grow together in a strict peking opera school. they grow up together and become two of the greatest performers but then one of them falls in love and tears them apart. as im typing this review it is hard to find the words to describe this movie. it is probably one of the most powerful movies ive ever seen to say the least. but that doesnt do this movie justice. since i find it hard to describe this movie i guess this will one word pretty much sums up my feelings on this movie: INDESCRIBABLE!!!
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