Bertolucci's The Last Emperor
Multiple Takes
Edited by Bruce H. Sklarew, Bonnie S. Kaufman, Ellen Handler Spitz, and Diane Borden
By WSU Faculty, Film Theory and Criticism, Filmmakers, World Cinema
Paperback
ISBN: 9780814327005
Pages: 280 Size: 6x9
Illustrations: 25 black and white images
In this anthology, filmmakers, psychoanalysts, film scholars, and cultural historians use a psychoanalytic approach to examine Bernardo Bertolucci's epic film The Last Emperor (I988). Evolving out of a conference on Bertolucci's work,the essays interweave psychological, political, and cinematic themes in The Last Emperor as well as in much of Bertolucci's other works. This volume includes a foreword by Bernardo Bertolucci and is organized into four parts or "takes,"
including "Filmcraft," "Psychoanalysis," "Film Scholarship," and "Cultural History."
Although we can never fully know the real Aisingioro Pu Yi, Bertolucci used his vision of the intricate relationship between art, ideology, and the psychic experience to tell the story of one ordinary man's extraordinary life. Bertolucci's The Last Emperor hopes to illuminate this complex and often enigmatic creation as well as renew an excitement about the possibilities of interdisciplinary criticism in film studies.