How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:43
Fresh:39
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.9/10
Consensus: While decidedly imperfect, Bernardo Bertolucci's epic is still a feast for the eyes.
Synopsis: Although it is 160 minutes long and shot with breathtaking scope and sumptuousness, Bernardo Bertolucci's film is a story about claustrophobia. Pu Yi, the Manchurian emperor of China who ascended... [More]
Starring: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Dennis Dun
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci's cinematic biography of Emperor Pu Yi is an astonishing, ravishing and smashing film... And it's a glorious production which won 9 Oscars - that's every major category for which it is eligible
Top CriticThat rare breed of film that is both pure Oscar bait and a thoroughly compelling work.
It works astonishingly well.
Works the brain in two-part harmony: the melody skids effortlessly across the historical timeline of the Ching dynasty, China's last, and the harmony part is all aesthetic appeal... [Blu-ray]
Visually splendid epic on the last Manchu imperial ruler of China.
We never question the integrity of the historical moment in the film, but we do question our patience.
Constantly absorbing and tremendously interesting.
Top CriticStoraro's photography, Scarfiotti's designs and the locations seduce us into this leisurely odyssey covering 50 years from Emperor Pu Yi's accession aged three to his end.
No review available.
Though boasting stunning photography by Vittorio Storaro (who shot in the Forbidden City), Bertolucci's beautifully crafted saga suffers from episodic text, incoherent story, and lack of truly epic hero at its center.
An involving look at the life of an emperor forced to give up all that he knew only to realize he never had everything he wanted.
John Lone is superb as the sad mediocrity; and if spectacle finally triumphs over sympathy, it is not without a decent struggle.
Mesmerizing, Oscar-winning, fate-filled journey to a vanished time and place.
No review available.
No review available.
No review available.
It's a tribute to the film's intelligence and its feeling for dialectics that it views both the Forbidden City and the detention center as prisons, and that when Pu Yi winds up as a gardener there's a sense of gain as well as loss.
The small screen doesn't quite do justice to the rich visuals but with an incredible story and fine performances, it is still a compulsive and moving epic.
Top CriticThere's no doubting its spectacular richness and heartfelt, deeply satisfying storytelling.
Top CriticNo review available.
Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!
We're giving away copies of Judd Apatow's latest.
RSS Feeds
Comment
