Farewell My Concubine: A Queer Film Classic (Queer Film Classics)

Farewell My Concubine, part of the QUEER FILM CLASSICS series, is a thought-provoking consideration of Chen Kaige's acclaimed 1992 Chinese film set in the mid-20th century abouttwo male Peking opera stars and the woman who comes between them, set against the political turmoil of a China in transition. The film's treatment of gender performance and homosexuality was a first in Chinese cinema, and the subject of much controversy there. The movie, which helped to bring contemporary Chinese films onto the world stage, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival (the first Chinese film to do so), and was nominated for a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar. Helen Hok-Sze Leung's book places the film in its historical and cultural context while drawing on fresh insights from recent works on transgender and queer studies to provide readers with an intimate, provocative, and original look at the film. The QUEER FILM CLASSICS series consists of critical yet populist monographs on classic films of interest to LGBT audiences written by esteemed film scholars and critics. A Queer Film Classic: Chen Kaige’s 1992 film about two male Peking opera stars and the woman who comes between them; its treatment of gender performance and homosexuality was unprecedented in Chinese film. Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes. A Queer Film Classic: the Palme d'Or-winning classic of contemporary Chinese cinema