The Emperor and the Assassin

Toronto International Film Festival Program Book
1999

The Emperor and the Assassin
Chen Kaige
Japan/China/France, 1999
163 minutes Colour/35mm
Production Company: Shin Corporation/Beijing Film/Le Studio Canal+
Executive Producers: Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, Han Sanping, Hiromitsu Furukawa Producers: Chen Kaige, Shirley Kao, Satoru Iseki
Screenplay: Chen Kaige, Wang Peigong
Cinematographer: Zhao Fei
Editor: Zhao Xinxia
Production Designer: Tu Juhua
Sound: Tao Jing
Music: Zhao Jiping
Principal Cast: Gong Li, Zhang Fengyi, Li Xuejian, Wang Zhiwen, Gu Yongfei, Chen Kaige
Production: Shin Corporation

In the rich yields of art cinema this decade, one classic flavour has been mostly absent. The historical epic, with its cast of thousands, sumptuous settings, fantastical costumes, scheming princes, compromised women and awesome images of war and destruction, can provide some of cinema’s most powerful experiences. The Emperor and the Assassin is a particularly fine and spectacularly wrought example of the genre; it also features one of the greatest performances of Gong Li’s distinguished career.

Kaige is no stranger to the large canvas. His Academy Award®-nominated Farewell My Concubine managed to bring one of China’s great classical arts, the Peking Opera, to the Western public with extraordinary cinematic imagination.

Emperor is a darker film, both narratively and visually. Its sombre, imperial grey and beige detailing—interrupted by Gong Li’s occasional vibrant robes—perfectly suits its central themes: what men and women will do to protect their beliefs and avenge the past. A Rashomon-like performance style, featuring grand exhortations and tearful reproaches, amplifies the intensity and profundity of the project.

The complex story is set in third century B.C. China is divided into several warring kingdoms, each covetous of its neighbour’s territory. An ambitious king, Ying Zheng, is obsessed with unifying all of China and becoming its first emperor. He embarks on a reign of terror, employing a “scorched earth” policy on vanquished states. Bound by childhood ties to Lady Zhao (Gong Li), the two devise an intricate fake assassination plot against Ying Zheng as an excuse to attack the neighbouring kingdom of Yan, his greatest obstacle to unification.

Part of the plan involves Lady Zhao going to Yan as a hostage. There she encounters a noble assassin who refuses to kill after seeing the results of his destruction. She hires him at once.

Back at the palace, the king’s mother reveals a terrible secret which prompts him to attack the place where he was raised: the homeland of Lady Zhao, against which he still harbours resentful memories.

As revenge wells inside Lady Zhao, the simple, noble assassin is forced to make a decision about his role in history.
—Noah Cowan