Farewell My Concubine

Cast:

Plot Summary

The story begins in 1920s China where a prostitute begs the master of a Beijing opera training school to take her son as student. Master Guan refuses her because the boy has a superfluous finger, which is not acceptable for a performer. The mother cuts off his extra thumb and takes him back to Guan. Guan agrees that the little boy can stay there, and names him "Douzi".

There are many students in the school, Shitou is one of them and he treats Douzi as a brother. They become friends and practice hard. One time Douzi practices the monologue of a female role with the line "I am by nature a girl, not a boy", but he can not distinguish the differences between on-stage and real life, so he insists he is a boy and repeatedly performs the line "I am, by nature, a boy".

When a famous theatrical agent visits the troupe, Douzi is brought out to recite his bravura role, but again he incorrectly sings "I am, by nature, a boy", and the agent gets up to leave. With the future of the troupe at risk, Shitou twists a tobacco pipe into Douzi's throat until he gargles on his own blood. Suddenly there is a soft whisper of, "I am, by nature, a girl, not a boy". This is the turning point in Douzi's life.

A few years later, Douzi and Shitou are performing on stage. They often duet together. In one of the performances, Douzi catches the eye of an aged Eunuch Zhang. Zhang later assaults Douzi. Douzi is humiliated and can not say a word. Shitou blames himself for not protecting his little brother and finds he can not offer any comfort to Douzi. On the same day, Douzi finds an abandoned baby in the street. He takes him in to the troupe and eventually trains him to be a performer after Master Guan's death.

Later Douzi and Shitou become famous and take the stage names Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) respectively. One of their most successful plays is "Farewell My Concubine". Dieyi falls in love with Xiaolou just as the character in the play does, and he hopes they can be together. However, the sexual attraction is not returned.

Xiaolou then meets Juxian (Gong Li) at an upscale House of Flowers. Juxian admires him and wants to live with Xiaolou, so she buys her freedom and makes Xiaolou her husband. The news of their marriage reaches Dieyi. He begs Xiaolou not to leave him but he does. Dieyi is depressed and turns to Yuan Shiqing (Ge You), a man with power in the upper class as well a Peking Opera fan, searching for comfort.

The complicated relationship between Dieyi, Xiaolou and Juxian is then tested in a succession of political upheavals in China. They go through Japanese Occupation, the Kuomintang regime, liberation in 1949, as the People's Liberation Army enters the city, and ultimately the Cultural Revolution in which traditional Peking Opera is attacked as feudal.

Xiaosi, the abandoned baby, unhappy with the way Dieyi trains him; quarrels with him before vowing to get revenge on him.

On the eve of Cultural Revolution, Xiaosi tells the government that Xiaolou is against the government. Xiaolou is questioned and offered a chance to repent. Under huge pressure and frightened, he confesses that Douzi performed for the Japanese and may have had a relationship with Yuan Shiqing. Douzi, enraged, tells the mob that Juxian was a prostitute. Shitou loses his mind and admits that he married the prostitute but swears that he doesn't love her and will never see her again. Juxian is crushed to hear his words and commits suicide.

Then the action jumps to a gym scene from the beginning of the film. Dieyi and Xiaolou are fully costumed and performing the famous play "Farewell My Concubine", which has been their most popular throughout their career.