The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor tells the life story of Aisin Gioro Pu Yi, who was taken from his family as a small child and installed as ruler of China at the age of three. He grows up inside the Forbidden City, treated as a living deity yet unable to leave its walls. That sheltered existence ends with the collapse of the imperial system, and Pu Yi's adult years bring exile, collaboration with the Japanese as a puppet ruler in Manchuria, capture by Soviet forces and eventual re-education in the People's Republic, where he ends his days as an ordinary worker.

Bernardo Bertolucci directed the film from a screenplay he wrote with Mark Peploe and Enzo Ungari. It sits between Farewell to Enrico Berlinguer and The Sheltering Sky in his filmography. John Lone plays the adult Pu Yi, with Joan Chen as his wife Wan Jung and Peter O'Toole as his Scottish tutor Reginald Johnston. The picture was a large international co-production made for 24 million dollars and released in October 1987.

Its worldwide gross of 44 million dollars placed it well above its cost. Audiences rate it highly, with 7.7 from about 119,000 votes on IMDb and 7.6 from close to 2,000 votes on TMDB, while critics were somewhat more enthusiastic, giving 8.1 from 126 reviews.