Farewell My Concubine (Leslie Cheung)

Show & Culture

Based on the novel by Lilian Lee. Palme d’Or, Cannes 1993; nominations at the 1994 Oscars (Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography). New 4K restoration, Cannes Classics 2026. A monumental masterpiece directed by Chen Kaige, firmly rooted in the great cinema of mainland China. Leslie Cheung delivers the performance of his life as a Peking Opera actor specializing in female roles and tragically incapable of separating his art from reality. Through this character of overwhelming sensitivity, the actor magnificently fuses his own androgynous magnetism with the absolute devotion of a broken artist. His heartrending fate serves as the thread guiding us through fifty years of tumultuous Chinese history, from military dictatorship to the Cultural Revolution.