AIC, 1988 - AIC Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia ...

AIC
would begin in the darkness, with the
dark tones of the unconscious, and
take us back, via Pu Yi's memory, to
revisit, with him, each of the
significant periods in his life —
symbolized by rifts of colour in the
blackness — at the same time re-living
feelings, emotions and colour which
would eventually lead to illumination
and a new life. A journey which was a
progression from:
Black, symbol of preconsciusness. The
dark of the "collective unconscious" of
the cinema audience is rent by:
Red, symbol of birth. In a
flame-coloured night, Pu Yi is taken
from his mother to become Emperor,
and the umbilical cord is definitively
severed.
Orange, symbol of growth. Pu Yi lives
a completely different "family"
existence within the walls of the
Forbidden City.
Yellow, symbol of awareness. Pu Yi is
proclaimed Lord of Ten Thousand
Years before the five races of the Land.
Qrey, symbol of waiting. In a real
prison, this time, Pu Yi begins to
analyse his life.
Qreen, symbol of rebirth. Pu Yi
gradually reaches awareness, through
the instruction he receives and his
atonement.
Blue, symbol of freedom. Having
finally escaped from the prison of his
childhood, Pu Yi illudes himself that he
is able to make a free intellectual
choice.
Indigo, symbol of power. Pu Yi makes
an autonomous decision to leave for
Manchuria where he hopes to be
proclaimed Emperor again.
Violet, symbol of transition.
Recognizing his partial guilt in the
repertory images, Pu Yi takes all of the
blame upon himself.
White, symbol of equilibrium. Pu Yi
receives his pardon and rehabilitation
papers from the Prison Governor and
becomes a Free Man, having succeeded
in understanding all his feelings, all his
emotions, all the Colours of his past.
A parallel journey through the various
Ages of man and the corresponding
Ages of colour, which Pu Yi is obliged
to undertake in order to reach greater
maturity, to emerge in a more mature
light.
A journey through colour, on light
waves, which begins in the Half-Light
in which, as a prisoner inside the
Forbidden City, he was forced to exist,
and where the attempt to protect him
resulted in his being denied that direct
Light, comparable to Knowledge, and
obliged him to live in a limbo of
ignorance. A journey which will
eventually lead towards illumination,
beginning with the arrival of a new
tutor who imparts new knowledge to
Pu Yi, which bathes him in a new
light. And it is this new knowledge
that filk Pu Yi's mind with questions,
all the questions he had never asked
himself which lurk in his unconscious
like Shadows.
Shadows, which represent the illusions,
the empty power of the Manchukuo
Empire, and which rise up more and
more threateninghly, engaging in a
constant duel with the life force.
Light and Shadow, which will only be
able to exist in harmony, when Pu Yi,
the man, reaches intellectual maturity
during the last phase of his life.
I actually had the complete
photographic structure of the film in
my head before I even set foot in
China, as if 1 had needed to give birth
to it. The fact was that a creative
phase of my life was coming to an end,
and "The Last Emperor" represented
the final stage of a journey through
light, through the spectrum, which had
begun with the Symbolism of Colour
in "La Luna", continued with the
Physiology of Colour in "One from
the Heart" and which would be
concluded with the Ages of Colour in
"The Last Emperor".
Now that the photographic structure
was complete, I had to take my
courage in both hands and
communicate it, back it up and defend
it all the way along the line. True, 1
was only at the beginning of the
journey, but I was so excited about the
concept: the need to express it was so
great; and I was so determined to
succeed in realizing what 1 believed in,
that 1 knew 1 was going to be able to
summon up the necessary energy to see
it through.
I gathered my thoughts, took a deep
breath and tensed myself for the
all-important meeting with Bertolucci:
I absolutely had to convince him! I was
so sure that my concept for the
photography was right, that I feared 1
might actually have to abandon the
project if I couldn't convince
Bertolucci. I just couldn't imagine
visualizing the Emperor in any other
way — at least, not at that time. After
hesitating a little, Bertolucci expressed
his enthusiasm.
2) REALIZATION:
It was, I remember, in May''86, when I
made my first trip to China, that vast
and ancient continent that had always
seemed so remote. What I found so
exciting about it, apart from the
different country, culture and way of
expressing visually that would provide
such a feast for the eyes, was how
much all these new experiences and
emotions would stimulate my fantasy
regarding the photographic concept of
the Film.
The discoveries made during the
"recces" we carried out inside the high
walls, with Bertolucci leading us down
the endhss avenues, and through the
vast halls and sumptuous interiors of
the Forbidden City, resolved many of
the questions in my mind as to how
the China of the Eighties compared to
ancient China. More than anything
else, it confirmed, reinforced and
greatly helped the photographic
concept I had evolved at my desk
which, although based on personal
needs and values, was also a logical
development of everything Berlotucci
and I had created together during our
twenty-year journey in the world of the
cinematographic image.
The choices we made, resulted in my
dividing the photographic structure of
the Film into Three parts: the Past,
during which Pu Yi had been Emperor
of China, then lived in exile with the
Japanese and been puppet Emperor of
Manchukuo; the Present, in which he
was undergoing thought reform in a
Chinese prison; and the Future, in
which he would have leamt how to live
as a Free Man in the Republic of
China.
Obviously, 1 chose lights, lenses, film,
filters, developers and printing methods
which would produce the colours and
tones that would best communicate the
photographic concept which had been
evolved to write the Emperor's story
with Light.
We decided to photograph the entire
Film with Anamorphic lenses in order
to render "The Last Emperor" as epic
as possible; in order to communicate
the inner drama of the man responsible
for such a vast Empire, in the most
powerful way; in order to better
succeed in telling a great story, on the
big cinema screen, to a big audience,
most probably in the 70
m/m version, and certainly with
stereophonic sound.
I joined Bertolucci in Peking a few
weeks before shooting was to begin.
One morning, at the beginning of
August, we shot the first scene of "The
Last Emperor", instead of just
rehearsing it, basilically, to break the
ice — but it was also a little like
tempting Fate, as shooting had not
actually been scheduled to start until
later. However, from that moment on,
the days seemed to fly by, as we
worked with tremendous concentration,
and achieved a wonderful creative
rapport which, scene after scene, take
after take, photogram after photogram,
steadily sensitized the emulsion of the
film, as if the whole thing had been
destined to happen from the beginning.
The conceptual notes I had
incorporated into the script provided
excellent guidelines for the
photography. Naturally, I could always
elaborate on them but as they were,
they functioned as a fulcrum for the
"narration" of the Film.
1 could always take off on full creative
flight should the occasion present itself,
should a setting, take or a particular
light require a different solution to
that arrived at months before.
Often, figuring out how I was going to
shoot a new scene and incorporate it
into the pre-established photographic
structure — a decision which had to be
made almost instantaneously — was my
big problem of the day!
However, the initial concept's having
been so precise, enabled me to come up
with the right solution each time,
which even if it seemed the least
attractive or most difficult to realize,
inevitably turned out to be the most
valid for "writing" that particular
concept with the light.
Every evening, before going to bed, I
would note down in the script any
modification 1 might have made to the
original concept during the day; the
very last thing 1 did before-going to
sleep, was to read the scene we were
going to shoot the next day, and then I
let my unconscious do the rest.
Every morning, as 1 listened to
Bernardo recounting all the dreams,
ideas and suggestions the night had
bestowed upon him, I had the feeling I
was looking at someone who was all
Energy, energy that was never still.
He was never satisfied with what had
already been established, arid was
always ready to put his brilliant
imagination to work on creating highly
original images and
thought-provokingeven
distrubing-concepts.
Seven years had passed, since we had
created our last image together, and
yet right from the time he first called
out "Action!", we were able to pick up
where we left off and continue
communicating our message, which
had been interrupted, but never
forgotten, and to which we had always
remained faithful.
The speed with which he was able to
adapt to the new technologies my crew
and I had mastered in The States was
incredible: 1 would often catch him
smiling as he watched us move swiftly
and efficiently around the camera,
armed with small sensors, and all the
better equipped for our international
experience. The truth was that even if,
in this context, we were known as the
"ones who were making the Emperor",
we were still the same ones — even if a
little older — who had made: "La
Luna", "Novecento", "Ultimo Tango
a Parigi", "Il Conformista" and
"Strategia del Ragno".
So, for seven months, while the Sun
and Moon alternated in the sky above
us, we worked in this way, projectung,
recording and studying images on the
small portable screen we towed
behind us, and found the necessary
energy to proceed on our journey at a
calm, steady pace. And this was how
"The Last Emperor", image after
image, scene after scene, gradually
began to take shape.
3) DIVULGEMENT:
It was, I remember, in June '87 —
I actually have the dated noted down —
that Gabriella Cristiani, the editor,
called me to tell me that the entire film
had been edited and assembled, and
that it was time to correct the tones
and colour balance on the work print.
So, while Berlotucci mixed the voices,
sounds and musical notes onto one
soundtrack, Carlo La Bella, the Colour
Supervisor, and myself, mixed those
primary colours which, when the
correct degree of brightness or darkness
had been obtained, would go to create
the final images of the Film.
For three weeks, we corrected the
work, print take by take, so that each