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Bernardo Bertolucci's lush telling of the life and times of "Henry" Pu Yi (John Lone), China's last emperor, is an old-fashioned epic in the tradition of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, a history lesson, and an art-house film rolled into one. Told in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards, the film follows Pu Yi's metamorphosis from pampered royal to free-thinking rebel to everyman citizen of the People's Republic. Standout performances include Peter O'Toole as the Scottish tutor who teaches Pu Yi about the outside world and Joan Chen as the beautiful young woman whom Pu Yi marries. Bertolucci, himself a Communist, wants us to believe in the film's gray, Mao-suited present tense, but the swooning beauty of the flashbacks stands as its own rebuff.
Condition: Brand New Factory Sealed
SCENE INDEX
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