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L 'ultimo imperatore/The Last Emperor: Wonder and Disenchantment
The film's narration of the life of Pu Yi as the last emperor of China is based on the
emperor's autobiography, in which the details are rendered in a rather arid list of names and
places.(l) Therefore it is understandable that Bertolucci mentioned the book Twilights in the
Forbidden City (1934) by Reginald F. Johnston - who was Pu Yi's tutor from 1919 to 1924 -
as a particularly useful source (Ranvaud, 1987: 281). The film is a meticulous reconstruction
of life in the Forbidden City during Pu Yi's childhood, adolescence and adulthood, and this
chapter will focus on how Bertolucci establishes a non-linear narrative structure that
alternates an opulent, colourful mise-en-scene for the Forbidden City, with a stark,
monochromatic mise-en-scene during the film's depictions of Maoist China. The result is a
contrast that elicits diverse emotional responses, while also fostering an intellectual form of
viewer engagement with regard to the artistic and historical associations that the contrast
triggers.
Plot summary
The narration of Pu Yi's life begins with a caption, 'Manchuria 1950, Chinese-Russian
border 7 , which indicates the place and time of the emperor's imprisonment by Maoist forces.
Pu Yi attempts suicide by slashing his wrists, the red of the blood running into a washbasin
and giving way to the first of several flashbacks representing his memories. The red filter
used in the filming links 1950s Manchuria with Peking in 1908, depicting the young Pu Yi's
traumatic separation from his mother. Brought to the Forbidden City, he spends his childhood
surrounded by the beauty of the place and by the obedience of hundreds of people who look
after him. When he is fourteen, China becomes a republic with an official President, who has
a wall added to the Forbidden City perimeter to demarcate Pu Yi's symbolic role in Chinese
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