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Released last year in a restored version, Bernardo Bertolucci's grandiose film returns this Sunday evening on Arte (and in streaming on the channel's website for a few days). Here are five things to know about The Last Emperor :
Rebounding after failure
Until Last EmperorBernardo Bertolucci had dedicated all his films to Italy. But the failure of The tragedy of a ridiculous man (which had nevertheless won a prize at Cannes for Ugo Tognazzi) – which he analyzed by his incomprehension in understanding what was happening then in his country, plagued by terrorism and corruption – gave him a desire for elsewhere. He then left for the United States where he tried in vain to adapt The red harvest by Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon) then came across the autobiography of Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China and decided to look into its adaptation with Mark Peploe (Profession reporter by Antonioni). And they therefore aim to tell the whole life of this man, from his enthronement in 1908 at the age of 2 to his death to general indifference in 1967, while he worked as a gardener for the People's Republic of China. The project was initially planned to take the form of a ten-hour mini-series before becoming a feature film.
China's outstretched hand
The last Emperor obviously could not turn anywhere other than China. Bertolucci therefore went to propose his scenario to the Chinese authorities, as well as another idea for adaptation on their soil: that of The human condition by André Malraux. The Chinese government opted for The last Emperor and therefore decided to fully collaborate with a Western production for the first time since 1949. The Last Emperor was even the very first fiction feature film authorized to film in the Forbidden City. Before him, only the American Lucy Jarvis had been able to put her camera there in 1973 for her documentary The Forbidden Cityproduced for NBC.
A colossal shoot
For The Last Emperorproducer Jeremy Thomas managed to raise a budget of 20 million dollars. A considerable sum for the time but essential to the artistic ambition of the project which required more than 6 months of filming, 19,000 extras, 9,000 costumes and 300 Italian, English and Chinese technicians. Just one example: to make the elaborate wigs of the Imperial Court, the film's hairdressers Giancarlo de Leonardis and Iole Cecchini had to import… more than a kilo of hair!
Refusals from big names
To play Reginal Johnston, the diplomatic tutor of Pu Yi (who was later the final governor of the English concession of Weihaiwei), Bernardo Bertolucci had successively thought of Marlon Brando, William Hurt and Sean Connery, all of whom declined . And it is ultimately Peter O'Toole, the hero of Lawrence of Arabiawho was chosen.
A big hit at the Oscars
Nominated nine times for the 1988 Oscars, The Last Emperor was a hit by winning in each of these categories: screenplay, photography, editing, music, costumes, sets, sound, direction and film, notably against Fatal affair. These were the first and only Oscars for the filmmaker who had until then only been nominated for The last tango in Paris (as a director) and 1900 (as screenwriter). And this Last Emperor will be the first part of an oriental trilogy completed by Tea in the Sahara in 90 and Little Buddha in 93.