Get the MovieNight app
Add it to your home screen — faster & full screen
Get the MovieNight app
Add it to your home screen — faster & full screen
Recorded Picture Company
Not part of a collection.
1500 slaves. 353,260,000 royal subjects. Warlords. Concubines. And 2 wives. He was the loneliest boy in the world.
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
CinemaSerf
Jul 17, 2023 · via TMDB
This is a glorious film to watch on a big screen. It depicts the end of empire and the birth of new ones - and it does it in a spectacularly colourful and stylish fashion. The death of the Empress Dowager sees the toddler Pu Yi ascend the Dragon Throne of China, and live amidst concubines and eunuchs in the Forbidden City. He grows up believing his is a divine right to rule, and it is only upon the arrival of his tutor RJ (Peter O'Toole) and his procurement of spectacles that his eyes begin to be opened to the reality that his kingdom is entirely enclosed within a wall of golden yellow tiles. When this idyll is disrupted by warring events outside, the Emperor (now John Lone) sone finds himself a playboy, married to an opium addict (Joan Chen) and a useful puppet of the manipulative Japanese who have invaded much of his erstwhile realm. WWII arrives, power struggles ensue and the story of his eventual - and rather brutal - reintegration into the newly established Chinese communist society is depicted sensitively and without recourse to too much melodrama or sentiment. The score adds a wonderful richness to what is undoubtedly the star of this - the cinematography. Set inside the splendour of the actual Imperial Palace complex in Peking, we get a wonderful sense of the grandeur, isolation and luxury of life inside this sumptuously decorated collection of marble and brightly painted villas whilst outside, poverty and mysticism reigned more surely than did the occupant of the throne. The costume design is also remarkable - a perfect eye for the detail of the period from the start to the middle of the 20th Century. To be honest, the acting - aside from an engaging performance from the inquisitive and mischievous three year old (Richard Vuu) is all pretty routine. O'Toole features sparingly and doesn't quite fit the bill as the learned and worldly scholar. Lone and Chen are competent but they really only shine a light on the rather stilted dialogue. This isn't really a film about words - it's a film about visuals. It's about history, politics, corruption, betrayal - and even a little bit of love - all encased in a shell of creative elegance. It's wasted on the television - but is certainly one of the best examples of "epic" cinema yet made and Bertolucci has clearly invested a great deal of himself in this beautiful piece of drama. A must see, I'd say.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Fandango At Home
HBO Max Amazon Channel
YouTube TV
Criterion Channel
Cinemax Amazon Channel
HBO Max
Cinemax Apple TV channel
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Fandango At Home
John Lone
Pu Yi (Adult)
Joan Chen
Wan Jung
Peter O'Toole
Reginald Johnston (R.J.)
Ruocheng Ying
The Governor
Victor Wong
Chen Pao Shen
Dennis Dun
Big Li
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Amakasu
Maggie Han
Eastern Jewel
Ric Young
Interrogator
Vivian Wu
Wen Hsiu
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Chang
Lisa Lu
Tzu Hsui
Hideo Takamatsu
General Ishikari
Henry O
Lord Chamberlain
Chen Kaige
Captain of Imperial Guard
Constantine Gregory
Oculist
Yu Li
Second High Consort
Shi Liang
Republican Officer
Chen Shu
Chang Chinghui
Daxing Zhang
Tough Warder
Cai Hongxiang
Scarface (uncredited)
Glen Murphy
Captain (uncredited)
Biao Wang
Prisoner (uncredited)
Gianni Giovagnoni
Art Direction
Maurice Binder
Main Title Designer
Ferdinando Scarfiotti
Production Design
Mauro Marchetti
Camera Operator
Vittorio Storaro
Director of Photography
James Acheson
Costume Design
Gino De Rossi
Special Effects
Biao Wang
Assistant Director
Ning Ying
Assistant Director
Suzanne Durrenberger
Continuity
Bernardo Bertolucci
Director
Joanna Merlin
Casting
Jeremy Thomas
Producer
David Byrne
Original Music Composer
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Original Music Composer
Aisin-Gioro Puyi
Author
Bernardo Bertolucci
Screenplay
At the Beginning of Summer
Drive for the Future
Quiet Crossing
Decision
49 Days
Dreams of the Past
Vindicta
When Dawn Breaks
Don't Cry, Nanking
Lost in the Wilderness
Ayaz
Matt Roberts The Battle Is Over (Depression Movie)
Next to Normal
Macbeth
The Shawshank Redemption
Herstory
Schindler's List
Forrest Gump
Seven Samurai
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Silence of the Lambs
Notti e nebbie
Dead Poets Society
Night and Fog
A Melody to Remember
Gladiator
Saving Private Ryan
A Brighter Summer Day
CM Punk: Best in the World
Clouds
The Apartment
Casablanca
Tokyo Story
All About Eve
Memories of Murder
Amadeus
American Beauty
Lawrence of Arabia
I Wish I Were a Pigeon
The Death of Hitler: The Story of a State Secret
Manslaughter
Green Days by the River
The Beginning of the Legend
Fräulein Julie
Résistants, Collabos - Une lutte à mort
Trainspotting
Million Dollar Baby
Farewell My Concubine
The Postman
Army of Shadows
The Battle of Algiers
Grand Illusion
A Beautiful Mind
On the Waterfront
Selvmordsskolen
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
All Quiet on the Western Front
Stand by Me
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Awakenings
The Hijacking of Flight 375
The Untouchables
Edward Scissorhands
Hotel Rwanda
Magnolia
Annie Hall
The Celebration
Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive
Boxed
1970
Marriage Italian Style
The Hustler
Love is a Fairy Tale
A Night to Remember
The One, the Only, the Real Tarzan
Rise
Becoming Marilyn
Irena's Vow
Harold and Maude
Cinderella Man
Talk to Her
Gattaca
I Still Believe
Gandhi
Malena
Walk the Line
Ed Wood
EverAfter
The Man Who Wasn't There
Fascism in Colour
Summer
Wounded in the Forest
Carol
Barton Fink
Marty
H-8...
Cabaret
The Right Stuff
The Big Blue
Once Were Warriors
Interview with the Vampire
Kolya
Black Hawk Down
The Mission
The Elementary School
The Silent Revolution
Bad Education
Stalingrad
Sophie's Choice
Pocketful of Miracles
Sissi
The Promised Land
Good Morning, Vietnam
The Guns of Navarone
From Here to Eternity
Red Cliff II
Younost, une jeunesse russe
Martyrs
House of Flying Daggers
Quiz Show
Chandu Champion
Driving Miss Daisy
The Edukators
Monster
Beautiful Thing
Passfire
Jules Verne. A Life Long Journey
Audrey's Children
El Noa Noa
Woman of Darkness
Desert Hearts
The English Patient
Sissi: The Young Empress
Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress
'Round Midnight
The Slender Thread
Heartbeats
The Accused
Tess
The White Sound
Kitchen Stories
No End
Rabbit-Proof Fence
The Lover
The Snow Walker
What's Love Got to Do with It
Big Night
Arsena, the Brigand
Miro
Narco Wars: In Their Own Words
An Adventure of the Soul
Karate Kid: Legends
Perla
Zorka Venus
The Secret Life of Words
First Reformed
Together
Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams
Dark Blue World
King Kong
Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World?
1776
Long Dark Night
Guru
Election
Beast
Fatal Attraction
They Came to Blow Up America
Not Without My Daughter
Battle of Britain
Secretary
Interiors
A Passage to India
Morphine
First Kill
Solomon Northup's Odyssey
Salty Rose
Fire
The Great Love
The Majestic
Seeking Sun Paths
Riding in Cars with Boys
Foxtrot
About a Boy
Mrs. Henderson Presents
The Shift
Hold Back the Dawn
The Redemption of General Butt Naked
Robert Redford: The Golden Look
The Soloist
The Eagle Has Landed
Effi Briest
Taxidermia
Midway
Requiem
Moulin Rouge
Wilde
Flash of Genius
Blueberry Hill
Radioactive
Red Joan
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
Wanderers of the Desert
The Eternal Sea
Air Force
Cantinflas
School Ties
Murder, Inc.
The Story of Zhou Enlai
Six Soldiers
Hitler's Hollywood
The Silence of the Sirens
Nobody Loves Kay
Music Within
Boy Culture
Dead Like Me: Life After Death
China Cry
Midday Event
Sins of the Mother
Permanent Record
Cookie's Fortune
You Are God
Red Corner
Walking Tall
Engel & Joe
The Death King
Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre
Live by Night
TiMER
Hacker
Sarajevo
True Blue
Force 10 from Navarone
Carmen Jones
Something Wild
Summer with Kuro
Zeppelin
The Elementary Particles
Titanic
Pure
The Neon Bible
In the Name of the Law
Dorothy Mills
Mulholland Falls
What Doesn't Kill You
Johnny One Hundred Pesos
Hitler Youth Quex
Protest
Further Prophecies of Nostradamus
Tribute to the Teachers
Eichmann
The Eclipse
Caligula
City Hall
The Gray Man
Song of Granite
Lakshmi
Interlude in Prague
British Agent
Tattoo
Princess Kaiulani
Eros
Hotel Noir
P
Naples '44
Summer '04
Any Mother's Son
The Whores
Control
Roe v. Wade
The Tender Hook
The Zodiac
High Stakes
The Next Karate Kid
The Dead Season
The Imperial Lullaby
The Borgia
People I Know
The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan
Running on Empty
Making of a Male Model
Noventa minutos
Zwinglis Erbe
The Cold Room
Who's That Knocking At My Door?
Mother Earth
America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story
About the Looking for and the Finding of Love
Lover Divine
No Thank You
Om Namo Venkatesaya
SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
Bell Witch Haunting
The Swimmer
The House of Mature Apples
Aba Jan
Dowry of Life
Marshmallows
Lie
The Moth
The Pardon
After the Storm
Exanimationes Incidamus
Uloupené dětství
Ce qu'il ne faut pas dire
Letters To Daniel
Divided We Stand
Ablaze
Billion Dollar Spy
Modus Operandi
Vinterdag 1914
When the Doves Disappeared
Statusbericht
Džarkovia
Rubens: A Life in Europe
Deathmate
Hra bez lásky
Green Flake
Robin
Coup!
Matapacos
Lone
Deserted by the Masses
Beskydská epizoda
In The Hour Of Fear...
Karola
Gadkari
Simone Veil - Les combats d'une effrontée
Starlight
Fragments of This Beauty
Wonderful Youth
Kalkutún, Trial of the Witches
L'Inverno
Heaven and Nature
Skok
Gone Fishin'
Tvář za oknem
Not to forget
18 Rain, Dangerous People
No End in Sight
In Thy Name
The Music We Call Country
Peace by Piece
Sélectionné
A Beauty Supply in Queens
Justin the Just
To Go to the Moon
L'Europe des Fronts Populaires
De Bäcker a säi Radio
HAPPY KID
Anatta
Hal
Untitled JJ Velazquez Project
Shutter Island
The Great Escape
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Gandhi
Girl, Interrupted
Empire of the Sun
The Name of the Rose
Shooting Dogs
Unbroken
Richard Jewell
First They Killed My Father
Nocturnal Animals
Blow
Darkest Hour
Lord of War
Cherry
Lolita
The Physician
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl
Escape from Sobibor
Seven Years in Tibet
Prisoner of War
The Professor and the Madman
Lolita
Born on the Fourth of July
The Zone of Interest
The Post
You Don't Know Jack
The Way Back
Shattered Glass
Bronson
Munich - The Edge of War
Victoria & Abdul
Nixon
Kundun
The Railway Man
I Am David
Tetro
To Write Love on Her Arms
Pork Chop Hill
The Crush
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Heaven & Earth
The Gathering Storm
Starving in Suburbia
Experimenter
The Number 23
Neverwas
The Smashing Machine
The Lost City of Z
A Dangerous Method
Taking Sides
Firebrand
47 Ronin
Origin
Emperor
Home Run
I Smile Back
Shanghai
The Secrets We Keep
Waiting for the Barbarians
Queen of the Desert
Nov 18, 1987
New York City, New York
Nov 19, 1987
Los Angeles, California
Nov 20, 1987
New York City, New York
Apr 15, 1988
© 2025-2026 MovieNight. All rights reserved.
Versus
Sign in to play →
Bicara Cinta
2020
The Pied Pipers of Harlow
1965
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
Leaderboard →Playing as a guest — sign in to save your score and rank on the leaderboard.
Movie Trivia
Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
What is your favorite movie genre?
Versus
Sign in to play →
Bicara Cinta
2020
The Pied Pipers of Harlow
1965
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
Leaderboard →Playing as a guest — sign in to save your score and rank on the leaderboard.
Movie Trivia
Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
What is your favorite movie genre?
We use essential cookies to run MovieNight, plus analytics (Google Analytics) and advertising (Google AdSense) cookies. By continuing to browse, you agree to this — or click No and we won't. See our Terms & Privacy Policy to learn more.