Your score

You haven’t scored this yet. Drag the bar or type a number to rate it 0–100.

(1987)Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci163 min · PG-13Drama, History

“1500 slaves. 353,260,000 royal subjects. Warlords. Concubines. And 2 wives. He was the loneliest boy in the world.”

A small boy is carried into the Forbidden City and made Emperor of China, worshipped by half a billion people he will never meet. Pu Yi (John Lone) grows up inside its walls as a ruler with no say over his own days, tutored by Reginald Johnston (Peter O'Toole) while the world outside the gates changes around him. Bertolucci, filming inside the real palace, packs the frame with silk, lacquer and crowds in yellow robes.