stunning!

Rating: 10/10 (29 August 2000)

From the director of the misunderstood and woefully underrated Last Tango in Paris, Bernardo Bertolucci comes his finest and most accomplished outing yet. Following the life of the last emperor in China, The fact that the film manages to fit an considerable amount of material into an relatively short space of time is an minor miracle, With excellent performances from John Lone as the emperor, Joan Chen as the empress and Peter o Toole as his english teacher. This is truly a work of art but what makes this particularly compelling is possibly the greatest example of cinematography to date by Italian genius Vittaro Storaro. The effect created by him is truly stunning and recreates the emperor's world perfectly, photography that hasn't quite been matched before or since by anyone. Bernardo Bertolucci directs with an sure artist's hand pacing the story and dazzling visuals to perfection. This is also an study of how noone is invulnerable and most importantly, how power corrupts.