Farewell My Concubine
His most famous film in the West, "Farewell My Concubine" (1993), nominated for two Academy Awards and winner of the Palme d'Or at 1993 Cannes Film Festival, follows two Beijing opera stars through decades of change in China during the twentieth century. Chen followed up the unprecedented success of "Farewell My Concubine" with "Temptress Moon" (1996), another period drama starring Leslie Cheung and Gong Li. Though it was well received by most critics, it did not achieve the accolades that "Concubine" did, and many were put off by the film's convoluted plot line. Almost as famous is his "The Emperor and the Assassin" (1999), an epic involving the legendary King of Qin and the reluctant assassin who aims to kill him.