Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		5.0

The Last Emperor 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 27, 2023

When a film more or less sweeps the Academy Awards, it's probably easy to think everyone associated with the film, perhaps especially the co-writer and director who took home two of those aforementioned Oscars, are firmly ensconced in the filmmaking hierarchy of icons for all time. And while that may well have been true of Bernardo Bertolucci after this film was released, as some of the bounteous supplements Arrow Video has aggregated for this impressive new set make clear, in an industry where you're only as hot as your most recent success, Bertolucci was in relatively dire straits when The Last Emperor was in its formative stages. Despite having effected a "hat trick plus one" fairly early in his career with The Conformist, The Spider's Stratagem , Last Tango in Paris and 1900, Bertolucci had stumbled at least somewhat with the two films which immediately preceded The Last Emperor, Luna and Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man. That general feeling of entropy, combined with a seriously risky gambit of getting the Chinese Communist Party to agree to a production utilizing the Forbidden City for a location shoot, probably led many to believe that Bertolucci had bitten off more than he could possibly chew, and there were probably some "industry vultures" simply waiting for the carrion of The Last Emperor to be scattered across the landscape for them to feast on. Of course, instead of being the unmitigated disaster some were predicting or perhaps even hoping, The Last Emperor turned out to be an unabashed triumph for everyone involved, and it remains one of the most effective so-called "historical epics" if its or frankly probably any generation.

Pu Yi (John Lone as an adult, with a trio of younger actors portraying the character from childhood through the teen years) had one of those lives that seems custom made for a movie adaptation, and while The Last Emperor does depart from the historical record at times, the underlying unbelievability of what transpires to Pu Yi is actually part of what makes his story so riveting. A lot of historical epics tend to offer characters who are assembled in virtual tableaux where they can seem like nothing other than robotic mannequins. The Last Emperor brilliantly humanizes its focal subject by introducing him first as a disgraced prisoner after the Communists take over China, but then in a series of flashbacks, as an adorable little tot who has "royalty" (and perhaps "divinity") bestowed upon him before he really has any idea of what is going on.

There's a brief look at a mocked up Time Magazine cover featuring Pu Yi partway through this opus, and for those wanting a really fascinating contemporary account of the real life Pu Yi, this cover article from a March 1934 issue of the Luce publication is informative if just a tad snarky. It at least gives some idea of the absolutely incredible set of forces that beset Pu Yi virtually from birth and which continued to buffet him like a veritable pawn on the chessboard of his own life for the rest of his earthly existence.

The Last Emperor received a long ago release on Blu-ray for Region A courtesy of The Criterion Collection, and Svet Atanasov's The Last Emperor Blu-ray review of that version offers some more plot details as well as a chance to compare screenshots and see how supplements stack up between the releases.

The Last Emperor 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from Arrow's standalone 1080 version of the Theatrical Cut. Per Arrow's standard operating procedure, this release does not include a 1080 disc of the Theatrical Cut, but the Extended Version on Disc Two is presented in 1080, as with the general 1080 release.

The Last Emperor is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with a 2160p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

The Last Emperor has been exclusively restored by Turbine in partnership with Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 [sic] with stereo and 5.1 sound.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K at Technicolor Rome. The film was graded in standard dynamic range, HDR10 and Dolby Vision by Jan Frederik Kuhn & Benjamin Albrecht at LSP Medien, Uelzen. The restoration was supervised by Christian Bartsch, Turbine. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques. Image stability and flicker were also improved.

The film's original framing was maintained using reference materials supplied by Schedule 2, London. Instances of visible debris or hairs at the edge of the frame were considered part of the original photography and were left unaltered during the restoration process.

The original stereo soundtrack was remastered from the magnetic reels. The 5.1 mix was provided by StudioCanal.

To cut to the chase, this is a hugely impressive looking presentation that should easily please the film's legion of fans, and HDR and/or Dolby Vision definitely offer some interesting new highlights, and in some cases rather dramatic changes in tonal values. The most striking of these to me personally was the markedly different look of the blood from Piyu's slit wrists suffusing the water of a sink very early in the film (see screenshot 5 of the 1080 review). In the 1080 version, it's rather vividly red, while in the 4K UHD version it has a somewhat more rusty brown hue, and changes like that are evident throughout the 4K UHD presentation, though that said, the suffusion of reds is really remarkable in this version, even if they can skew slightly toward oranges at times. The coolness of the prison scenes is probably a bit more pronounced in this version, with an almost teal undertone at times, but detail levels are generally excellent even in these slightly blanched sequences. While grain can vary at times, for the most part it's very nicely tightly resolved.

As with Arrow's 1080 release, a second disc is included here with the Extended Version. This shows some temporary image downturns in some of the added footage, and I'd argue even some of the shared footage may not look as superb as in the Theatrical Version, but the added material is often quite interesting and moving.

It's perhaps salient to note that the Criterion release had the rather unusual aspect ratio of 2.02:1. In that regard it's interesting to note that the IMDb lists three different aspect ratios for exhibition, 2.00:1 (Univisium, a format created by this film's cinematographer Vittorio Storaro in a revisionist attempt that met with Bertolucci's disapproval), 2:20:1 (70mm prints) and 2.35:1.

The Last Emperor 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Last Emperor features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. The surround track is quite spacious at times, especially in some of the outdoor material, though even interior scenes in the Forbidden City's immense palace can reveal clear engagement of the side and rear channels. Some of the prison footage also has really nicely immersive effects that provide a bed of sonic activity. The fantastically wide ranging score also resides comfortably in the surround channels and adds a good deal of energy (at times percussive) to the sound design. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Last Emperor 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Theatrical Version (HD; 2:42:54)


• First to Last: The Road to the Forbidden City (HD; 19:54) is a fantastically informative and very well written (and edited) documentary by David Cairns which gets into some of the background of Bertolucci and this epochal production's permission to utilize the Forbidden City for location work.


• Open the Door (HD; 23:02) features Cairns with Fiona Watson discussing the filming and how this cinematic treatment both meshes with and departs from the historical record.


• Interviews offers some archival 1987 pieces by John C. Tibbetts, which are advertised as having never before been available on previous home video releases of the film.

  Bernardo Bertolucci (HD; 8:18)

  
  

  John Lone (HD; 8:33)

  
  

  Joan Chen (HD; 9:13)

• Postcard from China (HD; 7:40) is a short shot by Bernardo Bertolucci while he was location scouting.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:35)


• Stills Gallery (HD) is authored without a timecode, but does auto advance, so have your Pause button handy if you want to linger on any given image.

Disc Two

• Extended Version (HD; 3:38:38)

Additionally, this is another very handsomely packaged release from Arrow. A typically nicely appointed insert booklet features writing by Kat Ellinger and Philip Kemp, along with archival material and the typical cast and crew and restoration information. The keepcase features a reversible sleeve with two artwork options, and the keepcase itself houses eight double sided postcard sized lobby card reproduction art cords. A fold out double sided poster featuring two artwork options is housed along with the keepcase in a nicely designed slipbox.

The Last Emperor 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Last Emperor may well be a paradigm of "truth is stranger than fiction", even if this film may vary at times from the actual historical record. One of the most gorgeous films of its era also has some unusual emotional impact, something that's not always the case with what can be overblown historical epics. Arrow provides a release with solid technical merits and excellent supplements. Highly recommended.