Everything that was good about the 163-minute theatrical release of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor in 1987 is even better in this new 218-minute director's cut. By contrast, much that was peculiarly distant and lifeless the first time around isn't really better or worse in this edition.

Conclusion: the net gains are considerable if you invest time to appreciate Bertolucci's full feeling for the odd story of Pu Yi, China's final monarch. You remember the saga: taken from his mother at the age of three, Pu Yi is brought into the enclosed walls of the Forbidden City to replace the real emperor. There he becomes a pampered prisoner and hollow symbol of an older monarchy that has since given way to a ruthless, 20th century republic. With his pining loyalists beheaded or kept at bay by armed soldiers outside the City's walls, Pu Yi is tutored by an English gentleman (Peter O'Toole) and wed to a kindred spirit (Joan Chen).

Eventually cast from his gated paradise, Pu Yi (wonderfully portrayed in adulthood by John Lone) becomes, by turns, a playboy, a dupe to the Japanese, and a victim of China's cultural reforms and re-education programs. This longer cut largely top-loads the film with greater reason to feel compassion for the emperor, with his often wordless sense-adventure in the mysteries that could only be known to one little boy plunged into indecipherable alien decorum, robbed of self-determination and common sense by his infinite privilege.

Added scenes (including some in the political rehabilitation camp where Pu Yi is held for a decade) fill out not so much added facts as density of experience. This improved The Last Emperor is richer in soul and a pronounced sense of Bertolucci actually directing this film in the most personal and profound sense.

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Directed by
Bernardo Bertolucci

Cast
John Lone - Pu Yi
Joan Chen - Wan Jung
Peter O'Toole - Reginald "RJ" Johnson
Ying Ruocheng - Jin Yuan/The Governor
Victor Wong - Chen Pao Shen
Dennis Dun - Big Li
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Amakasu
Maggie Han - Eastern Jewel
Ric Young - Interrogator
Wu Jun Mei - Wen Hsiu

Production Co.
China Co-Production Film Corporation
Beijing Film Studio
Tao Film
Yanco Films Ltd
Recorded Picture Company
Screenframe
AAA Soprofilms
RAI-TV Channel 1
Glinwood Films

Produced by
Jeremy Thomas
Franco Giovale
Joyce Herlihy

Studio
Columbia Pictures

Writer
Mark Peploe
Bernardo Bertolucci

Music
Ryuichi Sakamoto