Last Emperor, The (1987) Movie Script
The war criminals will proceed in
orderly fashion to the main waiting
room and await instructions.
No talking!
Obey the guards!
War criminals must proceed to
the waiting room!
Those caught talking
will be severely punished!
The emperor!
Your majesty. Your majesty. Your majesty.
What do they think they are doing?
Stop! It is dangerous!
Go back, Go back. Go!
Are you mad?!
They could kill us all!
Go! Go!
Open the door!! Open the door!!
Open the door!! Open the door!!
Mama!
By the command of Her lmperial Majesty,
also call, the compassionate,
and the Blessed, the Respectful
and the Long-Living,
the Empress Dowager commands
Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi,
son of Prince Chun,
shall be transferred immediately to the
Forbidden City and will remain in the
great within,
awaiting Her
Majesty's decision. Respect this!
Ar Mo. I am giving your my son.
My son is your son!
Quick! Quick!
I want to go home!
Look, look at all the camels.
Unlook at the Forbidden City!
Give him to me.
Ar Mo!
Pu Yi, come here.
How small you are. Are you
afraid of me? Everyone is.
I am the Grand Empress Dowager.
And I have lived here for a long, long time.
And they call me the old Buddha.
This is Peony. Do you like her?
Men, you know, are not allowed
in the Forbidden City after dark.
Even little men like you!
The only man who can live here is
the Emperor.
But the Emperor is on high,
riding the dragon, now!
He died today!
Longevity.
These other men, they're not real men.
They're all eunuchs.
And now, they're all wait for me to die.
That is why they're putting my
bed in the middle of the room,
under the black pearl.
Little Pu Yi, I have decide
that you will be the new Lord
of Ten-Thousand years.
You will be the Son of Heaven.
Are we going home, Papa?
Sssh! Sssh! Sssh!
It will soon be over.
Look!
Look!
Cricket!
Cricket! Cricket! Where's the cricket?!
Ahh, he is my friend, Your Majesty.
Safe and warm under my arm.
Kept me company on the long journey here.
Ahh, see? He is kowtowing to
Your Majesty.
Now, he can be
the Emperor's Cricket!
You Majesty, this is the
Forbidden City.
Ah, look! This little one is Your Majesty's
bedroom. This is where we are.
Am I going home, today?!
Not today, not yet. A-And
here, look
This is the Hall of Supreme Harmony
where Your Majesty was crowned.
I give Your Majesty the Gate of
Marshall Valor.
I give you the maju-gate the... gate!
/Yes.
Yes. And the Palace with
he Loudest Heaven... and... yes.
Your Majesty, your lmperial
bath is ready!
I don't like baths! I don't like
baths! I don't like baths!
No beam curd today and no
meat!
Is it true I can do anything
I want?
Of course, Your Majesty!
Anything you want. You are
the Lord of Ten Thousand Years.
Oh!! Oh! Oh! No! Not in my
face! Oh! Oh, no! No!
I'm the Son of Heaven!
I'm the Son of Heaven!
Yes! Oh, yes!
/I am the Son of Heaven!
Ar Mo! I want to go home!
I want to go home, I want to go home!
I want to go home, Ar Mo!
I want to go home.
Once upon a time, there was
a great tree and a great wind.
The tree and the wind were
always fighting.
His soup is getting cold!
Where am I?
In the people's Republic of China.
Why did you stop me?
You are a criminals!
You must be judged?
I repeat.
Prisoners going to their cells
will walk with their heads bowed.
Keep your eyes on the ground!
No looking forward or to the side!
The guards will give you directions
and tell you when to turn!
Pu Chieh.
Your guest is waiting to meet you.
You Majesty.
Also your mother has arrived.
You have not seen your mother
for many years. Your Majesty.
He is so small!
He is young, Your Majesty.
Go. Go!
The Emperor's brother.
His Excellency, Pu Chieh.
Ar Mo.
How is the health of His
Majesty's mother?
It is better, thank you. How
much His majesty has grown!
My mother has not seen me for
seven years!
Do you remember my face?
No!
The night they came with the horses,
I knew it would be like this.
My brother sees you everyday!
Pu Chieh is very excited to meet you.
He often talks about you.
We are all very proud of you.
The kite.
He chose this for you.
Papa!
They're turning away!
Of course! Ordinary people are
not allowed to look at the Emperor!
I am too important.
Is it true that you can do
whatever you want?
Of course, I can. If I am naughty, someone
else is punished. One of them!
Stop!
The Emperor will walk.
I have never met other children.
Are they all like you?
I've got three sisters and two friends.
If you come to our house,
you can play with us.
The Emperor never leaves the
Palace.
We play games together!
I know a game too! Run!
The ones in the boat are the
high consorts /High consorts?
The wives of the emperor
before me.
They say they're my mother,
but they're not! They're not!
Why are you wearing that?
You are not allowed to wear yellow!
But this is ordinary yellow.
It is lmperial yellow!
No, it is not!
We say it is! Only the Emperor
can wear that yellow! Take it off!
No!
Take it off!
No! And you're not the
Emperor anymore!
There is a
new Emperor now!
He has cut off his queue, and instead of a
camel, he has got a car!
What did you say?
You're not the Emperor!
Liar!
You're not the Emperor
anymore!
Liar! Liar!
You're not the...
Liar!
You're not the Emperor!
/How dare you!
Calm yourselves! Oh!
You're not the Emperor!
How dare you!
No! Your Majesty!
Calm yourselves!
Am I the Emperor or not?
Your Majesty will always be
the Emperor.
You see?
Prove it!
Big foot, drink it! Go on, drink
the green ink.
I will show you!
See? That is a car! He is the
President of the Republic.
Why is this wall here, Lord
Chamberlain?
It is just a wall, Your Majesty.
Nothing has changed.
You are lying.
Hight Tutor, am I still the
Emperor?
You will always be the Emperor
inside the Forbidden City,
but not outside.
I do not understand.
Outside China is now a republic,
with a president.
Where is Ar Mo? Ar Mo?
You are all liars!!
Let me say "good-bye"!
Hurry! Hurry!
He's my child! Ah!
Ar Mo?! Ar Mo?
I don't understand.
I don't understand.
Your Majesty is a big boy, now.
He can't have a wet nurse
anymore.
It's much better like this.
Much healthier.
But she is not my wet nurse.
She is my butterfly.
Ar Mo!!! Ar Mo!!
Ar Mo!!! Ar Mo!!
Ar Mo!!! Ar Mo!!
This is the detention center of
the Fushun Bureau of public security.
And I am the governor!
During the war, this was a
Japanese prison.
Many of you may remember it.
Because you worked with the Japanese,
you were responsible for building it and
you filled it with innocent people.
How could this happen?!
Why did you betray your
country?!
What turned you into war
criminals?
We believe that men are
born good!
We believe that the only way to
change is to discover the truth
and look at it in the face.
That is why you are here.
You will begin by writing
the story of your lives
and by confessing your crimes.
Your salvation will lie entirely
the attitude you take!
I advise you to be frank and
sincere, otherwise things can
still go very badly for you.
After a few years, the tiny republic had
become as corrupt as the old emperor.
It fell quickly into the hands of ambitions
generals and corrupt bureaucrats.
The era of the warlords had begun. By May,
China was in turmoil.
May the new tutor present
himself!
Your lmperial Highness,
the new tutor.
Dear lmperial Highness,
Mr. Reginald Fleming Johnston.
How do you do, Mr, Johnston?
How do you do, Your Majesty?
Now we will go to school.
Your Majesty, in my country, it
would be usual to begin with
some kind of an examination.
The Emperor can't be
examined.
Well, that may have to change.
But first, Your Majesty might
like to ask me some questions.
Where are your ancestors
buried?
In Scotland, Your Majesty.
But then, where's your skirt?
In your country, men wear short skirts,
do they not?
No, Your Majesty. Scotsmen do not
wear skirts, they wear kilts.
Kilts.
Kilts. A matter of words, perhaps,
but words are important.
Why are words important?
If you can't say what you
mean, Your majesty, you will
never mean what you say.
And a gentleman should always
means what he says.
Ah yes! "a gentleman".
Are you a gentleman?
I would like to be a gentleman,
Your Majesty. I try to be.
I'm not a gentleman. I'm not
allowed to say what I mean.
They are always telling me
what to say.
Your Majesty is still very
young.
I thought he might like to see some
English and American magazines.
I have just received
them.
I know that you know that I
know that you know that,
that is a dialog between
Confucius and Chuang Tzu.
Concerning respect, Your Majesty.
Who is this "George Washington"?
A famous American, Your majesty.
A revolutionary General.
The first American President.
Ah! Like Mr, Lenin in Russia?
Not quite.
Dose he have a car?
He lived a long time ago, Your Majesty.
I want a car.
I think your mouse is trying to
escape, Your Majesty.
Please do not tell anyone about
my mouse.
The lesson is finished.
Our official taster's a brave
men.
Many of my ancestors
have been poisoned, you know.
Does Your Majesty have lunch
like this everyday?
Oh, yes! Every day!
Like theater!
I don't know why.
It has always been like that.
How do they kill emperors in
the West?
The Austrian emperor was shot, was he not?
No, but his nephew was assassinated
before the Great War.
But the Russian emperor had
been shot. He was called the Tsar.
Yes.
He took lots of our land in
Manchuria.
I'm a Manchrian. Even after the republic,
it's still country.
The-uh... secret, Your Majesty,
is emerging again.
Is something the matter, Your Majesty?
Something is happening.
What is happening,
Mr, johnston?
Uh nothing is happening...
/Quiet!
On my way here, Your Majesty,
we were held up by students
from the university.
They were protesting against the
republican government.
because it has agreed to give
away Chinese territory to Japan.
It is true, Mr, Johnston, that
many people out there have had
their heads chopped off?
It is true, Your Majesty.
Many heads have been chopped off.
It does stop them thinking.
It is time for the Emperor's rest.
The students are right to be
angry.
I am angry!
But I am not allowed
to leave the Forbidden City.
I want to go out,
Mr, Johnston!
My lord!
I want to see the City of sounds!
The Emperor awards you with
the order of the Ruby Hat Button,
and with the right to be carried in your
own chair, with four bearers.
I hope the Emperor has not
forgotten that this is the
day for his math class?
For Your Majesty!
My doctor says,
"Bicycles are bad for you".
Bad for you, nonsense!
How does it work?
Oh, it's simple.
Head up and eyes forward!
As in math!
My mother is dead, is she not?
Yes, Your Majesty.
I'm profoundly sorry!
I'm not.
She killed herself.
She swallowed the ball of opium.
I'm going to see her, and my brother.
Open the door. Open the door.
Open the door.
Fallen devil and fallen machine.
Trouble! Nothing but trouble!
Look where you lead him!
And you are an old, cruel, ignorant man.
The boy's mother is dead,
and he's not even allowed to see her!
I want to go home!!
I want to go home!!
Stop it, stay where you are!!
I want to go home!!
Stop it, stay where you are!!
You fool!! Stay there!!
Chang!
Hunchback, Bigfoot!
Sir? Give me your hand, sir.
Give me your hand, sir!
Can you not see?
Look at my left ear, please, sir.
Thank you, and my right.
Thank you.
Would you follow my finger, please, sir-
Well it's perfectly simple,
Johnson. The emperor needs spectacles.
Like Harold Lloyd!
Impossible!
An emperor does
not wear spectacles!
That can't be allowed!
Time have changed,
Your Highnesses!
If His Majesty doesn't get spectacles,
Johnston, he could lose his sight.
Your Majesty.
If the Emperor does not get
spectacles, I will resign.
Unfortunately,
our decision is final.
And unfortunately, what I have to say will be
published in every newspaper in China.
What do you have to say,
Mr, Johnston?
The Emperor has been a prisoner
in his own place since the day
that he was crowned and has remained
a prisoner since he abdicated.
But now he's growing up. He may
wonder why he is the only person in China
who may not walk out of
his own front door.
I think the Emperor is the
loneliest boy on earth.
It would be conveniently sad
if he becomes blind.
Blind, Mr, Johnston?
To the expense, Your Excellency.
To the cost of maintaining one
thousand two hundred eunuchs,
three hundred and fifty
ladies-in-waiting.
and one hundred and eight-five
cooks to buying one hundred.
and twenty sable furs a month
and three thousand chickens a
week.
To the fast that eight hundred
and forty guards and employees
of the household department,
plus one Lord Chamberlain,
care only about one thing!
Filling their own rice bowls!
You are very good at accounts,
Mr, Johnston!
The Emperor may have abdicated,
but he is still a symbol
of great importance to many people.
If I did not agree with that,
I would not be here.
And some of us believe that one day soon,
he may be more than a symbol.
The spectacles are a detail.
What do you really want,
Mr, Johnston?
Ah-Just the spectacles.
The Princess Wan Jung,
Your Majesty.
Seventeen years old.
Princess Wu Chang,
fifteen years old.
The princess De Li,
Your Majesty.
And the Princess Fung Ying.
Who is this?
Princess Wen Hsiu,
twelve years old.
She has got a funny face.
Notjust one wife. One empress
and one secondary consort.
Two wives?
But who do you choose to be
the Empress?
They chose her!
She's very old, Johnston!
She's seventeen!
That's not so old, Your Majesty.
What does she look like?
Old fashion!
I want a modern wife, Johnston,
who speaks English and French!
And who can dance the
quickstep!
Johnston!!
Sir!
I'm going to escape, Johnston.
I've got a suitcase,
and a ticket to England.
I'm going to Oxford University.
Your Majesty, if you get married
you will become the master
of your own house.
A wedding might be a more
practical way to escape.
Why did you never get married,
Johnston?
The secondary consort
welcomes the Empress greets
the secondary consort.
You are doing everything very well.
Thank you.
I rehearsed many times.
What is His Majesty thinking?
I was thinking, if I was the real emperor,
I would become the ruler of China now.
And what would the Emperor do,
if he could really rule?
I would change everything.
Even the way we get married.
Is the Emperor against arranged
marriages?
It is humiliating not to choose
whom you marry!
Even I was not allowed
to choose.
In another year or two.
His Majesty will be
taller than me.
Is it true the Emperor has a suitcase
under his bed and is going to Oxford?
Will the Emperor take Wan Jung
with him?
Perhaps he would like to
see my face before he decides.
Yes, the Emperor would like to
see the face of the Empress.
It is the Emperor who must
remove the kait'ou.
I also had a tutor like Mr, Johnston.
Miss Windsor. She's American.
Miss Windsor taught me how to
do the dance of the quickstep.
Does the Emperor know hoe to
do the quickstep?
Will you teach me?
Leave us! Leave us!
If Your Majesty thinks it is old
fashioned to make the rain and
the wind with a stranger,
we can be like a modern couple,
to begin with.
A modern couple?
Good night.
Good night.
You must come to Oxford
with me.
I like him!
I'm sure I'm going to like him!
And he will grow up!
Eyes down!
Report your arrival!
Prisoner nine-eight-one
reporting.
Louder!!
Prisoner nine-eight-one
reporting.
Open the door!
Close the door!
Sit down!
Name?!
Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi.
Write it!
Now read that aloud!
We call them
toothpaste and water tap.
The toothpaste prisoner needs to be
squeezed every now and then or else
he forgets, to keep confessing.
The water tap man needs one good
hard twist before he starts.
But them everything comes out.
Now, you're an intelligent person.
I'm sure you understand me.
Good.
Then we will begin.
Why do you think you are
in here, nine-eight-one?
I'm accused of being a traitor a collaborate
and a counter-revolutionary.
It's not an accusation!!
You are a traitor, you are a collaborator and
you're a counter-revolutionary!
Did you write this?
And you call it a confession?
This is noting but a list of dates!
A child's fairy tale!
What do you want me to confess?
You know what you did and
what others did.
So why don't you
volunteer the information?
I don't understand.
We don't tell people what to confess.
We already know everything about you.
I...
Go on.
I wanted reforms.
What did you what to reform?
Everything.
Cut off my queue.
Your majesty! Please!
It's heavy!
The emperor before me was murdered
because he wanted to reform the empire.
Is that not so, Mr, Johnston?
Yes, Your Majesty. Probably.
Well, let us see if they will kill me for
reforming the Forbidden City.
Lord Chamberlain!
I'm appointing
Mr, Johnston's friend,
the poet and scholar,
Chin Hsiao Hsiu,
to be the new Lord Chamberlain.
I want him to supervise a detailed
inventory of the imperial storerooms!
So that we can learn exactly
how much has been stolen!
Can I sleep here?
I'm frightened.
You're brave.
Are you not frightened?
I'm excited.
I don't want to escape anymore.
I want to rule.
Kiss me.
Can I stay with you as well?
Get in. Get in.
I used to play a game with the eunuchs.
Trying to guess who is who.
Now I can't see you!
Jung!
Wan Jung?
When Hsiu?
Come underneath the sheet with us.
Your Majesty!
The storeroom's on fire,
Your Majesty!
What are they carrying?
Their organs.
Whatever their crimes, they can't
be deprived of the right to
be buried as whole men.
Well?!
I have forgot what
I was saving.
You're wasting our time!
We want to know about the Japanese.
How did your friendship
with the Japanese begin?
Who introduced you?!
When?!
Hmm, I think it was... it was 1924.
Parliament had been dissolved again.
The president had fled.
At first, I thought it was just another a
coup d'etat by just another warlord.
Only this time it was different.
This time it was my turn.
Fifteen, love
Play.
Thirty, fifteen.
The rotten government of
the republic is in flight!
Now we shall remove the foreign
stench of the Manchurian rats who
still hide in the Forbidden City.
Mr, Pu Yi and his family have been given
one hour to leave the Forbidden City.
They will be escorted
to the home of his father.
and remain there under guard as state
prisoners until further notice!!
What are you all looking at?
What are you standing there for?
You always wanted to leave
the Forbidden City.
Now you're got an hour to park.
So, go! Go!
I always thought I hated it here.
Now, I'm afraid to leave.
Do you think they will kill me?
You must do as they say, Your majesty,
while I try to reach the British embassy.
They will give you asylum there.
I'm sure will.
Chang, take my car to the South gate!
I want to drive His Majesty.
Your Majesty!
Please, Your Majesty!
What? But you didn't go to
the British embassy, did you?
You ended up at the Japanese embassy.
The Japanese were the only people
prepared to help me.
Help you for nothing?
Japan has an emperor.
We're almost the same age.
I thought it was kindness.
At the same time I realized that
for many Chinese I was alien.
Simply because I'm Manchurian.
There was even an anti-Manchurian
league who wanted to assassinate me!
So, I want to live in Tientsin.
It was a nice provincial town
with a big port.
In those days, we had a large,
international settlement.
The Japanese thought it would
safer for me there.
Were the Japanese paying
for you in Tientsin?
Oh! No.
I had to rent a villa,
The Villa Chan, and it was very expensive.
So were the bodyguards.
I spent a lot of money in Tientsin.
Did you still believe in a restoration
of the imperial system?
Others did.
They were later caught and exiled.
I can't remember how much jade
and jewelry they made me
spend to buy the friendship of some warlord
or some white Russian general.
And what else did you spend
your money on?
Oh, I was never tired of buying pianos,
watches, radios...
As long as they were foreign!
Of course.
Anything Western was good.
Especially Wrigley's chewing gum,
Bayer aspirin and cars.
While you were in Tientsin, most
of China came under the control
of General Chiang Kie Shek,
the so-called Nationalists,
the Kuomintang.
What were your relations with them?
None.
I felt useless in Tientsin.
I was twenty-one.
I dreamt of going to the West.
I became a playboy.
Am I blue. Am I blue.
Ain't these tears in my eyes
telling you am I blue?
You'd be too If each plan with
your girl done fell throught
was a time I was her only one.
But now I'm the sad and lonely one.
Bu-Bu-Booo. Bu-Bu-Booo.
Now she's gone and we're
throught Lord, I'm blue.
Very good.
That's a great ship...
if you're going first-class.
I'm not going anywhere.
Would you like to dance?
You're a brave man.
Nobody here would have
danced with me.
Why is that?
Because I'm Chiness.
Well, I'm American.
You say California.
I say French Riviera.
San Francisco!
Monte Carlo!! Are we really going this time?
Who's that couple?
Oh, Henry and Elizabeth.
The Emperor of China?
The Emperor and his wise.
She's beautiful.
Yes, very.
And who are you?
I'm His Highness's other wife.
His other wife?
Number two wife.
Well, some people have all the luck.
Ladies and gentlemen!
General Chiang Kai Shek
has taken Shanghai!
The Kuomintang have broken with the Reds
and have knocked them for six!
The Reds are finished!
Sorry about the reception, everyone!
It would be wiser to return to the Japanese
delegation now, Your Mejesty.
Your car is waiting.
Thank you, Mr, Amakasu.
The general strike in Shanghai
has collapsed.
The international settlement is safe.
Troops of the Kuomintang
are now in full control of the city.
And firm steps are being taken
to restore order
in the native areas.
Wen Hsiu, you want some gum?
I want a divorce.
I don't want to be your
mistress any longer.
I thought you were my
secondary consort.
In the Forbidden City, you were the
emperor and I was a secondary consort.
But now you are Henry Pu Yi.
Wan Jung is your wife, Elizabeth.
And who am I? I'm nobody.
I didn't know you were so unhappy.
You can only have one wife
in the West.
I want a divorce.
No one can divorce me!
I want a divorce!!
Your Ladyship!
Thank you.
I don't need it!
I don't need it!
Wen Hsiu?
Elizabeth! Can I come in?
Don't you remember me?
I'm dressed like a pilot,
but I still can't fly! Not yet.
Eastern Jewel!
We had dancing classes together!
Yes, just before your marriage.
Silly girl!
Why do people want to get married?
Wen Hsiu has gone.
She will never come back.
Is it so bad?
She was my only friend.
Well, at least now you've got
your husband all to yourself!
And you've got me!
I'll be your friend.
You smoke opium?
Be wicked It's the best in Shanghai!
Why are you going to Europe?
The place to go is Japan!
It's more fun than anywhere!
It's modern.
How do you know we're going
to Europe? It's a secret.
Oh, I know everything!
I know Chiang Kai Shek has got false teeth.
I even know his nickname,
"cash my check!"
I'm a spy.
I don't care who knows it.
A spy?
I work for the Japanese,
special service Bureau,
and I've come to protect you.
The Japanese.
They are getting closer to him everyday.
He is sending his brother to the
military academy in Tokyo.
They talk to him about Manchuria
all the time.
And Mr. Amakasu
never says hello to me.
I don't trust the Japanese.
Of course, I'd love to be the
Emperor's new secondary consort!
Eastern Jewel.
If the post is available.
The post is vacant,
my dear cousin.
But you don't fit the port!
Wen Hsiu left the dog behind.
Do you want it?
It's my fault.
It's all my fault.
I came to see you, Your Majesty.
To give you bad news.
Something terrible has happened.
The lmperial tombs of our Manchurian
ancestors have been attacked and robbed
by troops of the Kuomintang
Chinese soldiers.
A warlord working for
Chiang Kai Shek.
The body of the Empress Dowager
was hacked to pieces.
Her pearl necklace has become
a wedding present from
Ching Kai Shek to his new wife.
Tell me, nine-eight-one.
Do you consider yourself
to be Chinese?
Of course.
What is this?
Japan.
And what do you call this part
of China?
The Northeast.
And what did you call it
as a child?
Manchuria.
Japan invaded Manchuria on
September eighteenth, 1931.
and began to set up a puppet
state called Manchukuo.
Shortly afterwards, a Japanese delegation
paid you a secret visit in Tientsin
to request your collaboration,
which you say you refused.
Speak up!
I've already told you
I have told you a hundred times.
Tell us again! Tell us
two-hundred times!
I refused to collaborate.
You say you refused,
but a month later,
on November tenth, 1931
there your are arriving in Manchuria,
or should I call it Manchukuo?!
Now, according to this so-called
confession of yours, you didn't
go of your own free will!
- You insist that you were
kidnapped by the Japanese! /-Yes.
- And taken to Manchuria
by force! /-Yes!
Sit down!
Do you remember a man called
Reginald Fleming Johnston?
He was your tutor.
Yes.
And a good friend,
I believe.
After twenty-eight years in
China, Mr, Johnston returned
to England.
He became a professor
of original studies
at London University.
And he wrote a book. It's called
Twilight in the Forbidden City,
and it's dedicated to you.
Tientsin 1931.
I'm going to miss you,
Johnston.
I shell miss you, Your Majesty.
Do you think a man can
become emperor again?
Yes.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
How can we say "Good-bye"?
As we said, "Hello"
Farewell, Mr. Johnston.
Farewell, Your Majesty.
Good-bye, Mr. Johnston!
We'll never forget you, Mr. Johnston.
Good-bye! Mr, Johnston.
Good-bye! Good-bye!
On page four-hundred
and forty-nine, Mr. Johnston writes.
The endeavor to make out that
the Emperor had been kidnapped
by the Japanese is wholly untrue.
He left Tientsin and went to
Manchuria of his own free will.
Johnston was a liar!
What did you say?
I didn't hear you.
Mr. Johnston had left before
I was taken to Manchuria.
He couldn't have known
what happened.
Sit down!
According to this account,
you pre-packed the man's things
on the morning of November ninth!
Isn't it unusual for a man
who's kidnapped to have
his luggage packed
by his valet the day
before he's kidnapped?!
This is what you've written,
isn't it?!
Who told you to pack this man's luggage?!
These two stories don't fit,
do they?
It was a long time ago.
Perhaps I made a mistake.
You are lying!
You are both lying!!
Control yourself!
Request your choice.
Request you to change your mind.
I'm the hereditary ruler of the
Manchurian people.
There can be no Manchukuo
without me.
Do you not see?
The Japanese are using you.
I must try to use them.
The Japanese invasion of
Manchuria will be condemned
by the League of Nations
and by every civilized
country on earth!
The Chinese Republic had broken every
promise it ever made to me!
Chinese troops desecrated
the tombs of my ancestors!!
And Chinese troops didn't defend
Manchuria from the Japanese!
But Manchuria is still China!
China has turned it's back
on me.
Please, don't go.
Manchuria is the richest
frontier Asia!
Coal, oil, railways!
Millions of Chinese immigrants
are going there every year!
I'm going to build my country.
Johnston was wrong,
but he wasn't a liar.
There was no kidnapped!
You went to Manchuria by
your own choice, because
you wanted to be Emperor again!
You will rewrite your confessions
from the beginning!
Manchuria 1934
To heaven.
To earth.
To the moon.
To the sun.
You're an empress again.
What I'm going to be is a pilot!
I'm going to train at a secret
base near Yokohama to learn
precision-bombing.
I want to bomb Shanghai.
Bomb Shanghai?
I hate China!
I hate you.
The Japanese Army High Command!
Very impressive!
The Japanese Army!
Quickly!
Uh, may I introduce you?
My wife, the Princess Hiro Saga.
Prime Minister Hsiao Hsiu.
Honorable Chang Ching Hui,
Minister of Defense.
Monseigneur, Colonna.
The Empress and I accept with
great pleasure.
Excuse me, General.
Ahh! And now Mr, Amakasu.
He's the new chief of the Manchuria
Motion Picture studies.
Why do you have to spoil this day? Why?
Mr. Amakasu is the most
powerful man in Manchukuo.
What are you talking about?
You didn't believe I could be
Emperor again, but I am.
You are blind.
Do you know what it means
to be an empress? You are an empress!
Why do you not make love to
me anymore?
Because you have become an
opium addict.
Opium killed my mother,
opium destroyed China.
You can buy opium anywhere
in Manchukuo!
Shut up!
- In any shop.
- Shut up!
Your brother is going to have
a child.
We must have a child.
We must have an heir!
Emperor Hirohito has officially
invited us to Japan.
I'm going alone!
You are staying here.
I would never go to Japan.
Then go to your room!
Ten thousand years to His Majesty!
Ten thousand years!
I told you, I hate you.
Only because I give you what you need.
Now we're engaged.
You forgot my toothpowder.
Oh... yes... sir.
Move him!
Nine-eight-one!
Collect your things!
Upstairs!
Stop!
Your laces are undone.
Do them up!
Thursday, you serve lunch.
Friday, you clean the toilet.
Saturday, you sweep the floor.
I have never been separated
from my family.
You'd better get used to it!
You don't remember me, do you?
I was the Minister of Trade,
in Manchukuo.
You were all in Manchukuo.
Now, I'm the cell leader.
It is important to follow the rules here.
No talking during study session!
Manchuria 1935
Where is your gun, Captain?
Where are their swords?
Our weapons have been
removed, Your majesty,
on order of colonel Yoshioka.
Colonel Yoshioka?
Colonel Yoshioka!
What has happened here?
Why has my guard been disarmed?
Yes, it's very unfortunate, Your Majesty.
There have been many
changes while you were in Tokyo.
Your Majesty, may I present
Masaomi Kobayakawa, the new
Japanese ambassador to Manchukuo.
Why is prime Minister Hsiao
Hsiu not here to receive me?
The prime Minister has resigned,
Your Majesty.
His son been
assassinated.
Assassinated?
By communist bandits,
Your Majesty.
I must see him at once.
He refuse to see anyone, Your majesty.
He has gone to a monastery, far away.
Who are you?
Chang Ching Hui, Your Majesty.
Minister of Defense.
Yes, of course.
The council meeting will be at
four o'clock,
Your Majesty. Before the state dinner.
I'm going to have a child.
The father is Manchurian.
Colonel Yoshioka, Mr. Amakasu!
I did it for you!
His Majesty forgot to sign the
appointment of the new prime
Minister Mr. Chang Ching Hui!
I didn't forget.
When an Englishman robs someone,
Your Majesty, he becomes a gentleman.
If he robs a lot, he becomes a knight.
Do you imagine the British run
their Empire as a charity?
If India has to pay for the
cost of it's own occupation,
so must Manchukuo.
We hope Manchukuo will have an heir.
The Empress is expecting a child.
Yes, Your Majesty.
We are aware of the situation.
This is the name of the father.
His name is Chang!
He is your driver!
All the necessary facts have been recorded.
The man will be punished.
The emperor can't allow
his honor to be stained.
The Japanese are the only
divine race on earth.
We will take China,
Hong-Kong, Indo-China,
Siam, Malaya,
Singapore, and India!
Asia belongs to us!!
There have been complaints
from your cellmates.
You must learn how to urinate
at night without working them all up!
The way to do it's to urinate
against the side of the bucket,
not into the middle!
Yes, comrade.
You still think I'm your
servant, don't you?
We are all pretending.
You are just pretending
you have changed.
Shut up! The party will teach
us to be a new man!!
We're working for a new China!!
You worked in Amakasu's private office.
You are still the same people!
People don't change.
Guard!! Guard!!
Guard!!
And I let it happen.
I let it happen.
The second edict, Your Majesty.
Japanese will be the official
language in Manchukuo schools.
Your Majesty!
The baby was born dead, Your Majesty.
How is the Empress?
It would be better if she gone
to a clinic, somewhere warm.
She's already left,
Your Majesty.
Open the door.
With Manchukuo now firmly in
their grasp, the Japanese soon
controlled most of North China.
By 1937 they were ready to strike South,
at the heart of the country.
The attack on Shanghai was one of the
first civilian bombing raids in history.
It left thousands homeless,
thousands dead.
Three months later, Japanese armies were
besieging the provisional capital at Nanking.
And when the city fell,
the atrocities began.
Trying to terrorize
the rest of China,
more than two hundred thousands
of the civilians exacuted.
The world watched in horror,
but no help was given.
On December the seventh, 1941
Japan attacked the American fleet
at Pearl Harbor.
There was no warning.
Manchukuo, the Japanese bastion
in North China, was still ruled
by the puppet emperor, Pu Yi.
But behind the facade of triumph,
was a country enslaved.
Nine days after the bomb at Hiroshima,
on August the fifteenth 1945.
Emperor Hirohito announced
the surrender of Japan.
It was the first time his voice
had ever been heard on radio.
You must get to Tokyo, Your majesty.
You must surrender to
the Americans, not the Russians.
The communists will kill everyone!
The Empress has returned.
Your Majesty, please.
Your Majesty!
Hurry! There is no room on the
plane, Your Majesty!
The women aren't in danger!
We must hurry!!
Your Majesty!
Your Majesty is leaving now!
Now!
The Russians!
Perhaps you think we are here
to teach men to lie in a new way.
Why did you sign every
accusation made against you?
I didn't step you from killing
yourself to see you like this...
Someone who signs anything to please
his enemies, to please me!
You know about a lot of things in
Manchukuo. Even the secret agreements.
But you couldn't possibly have
known about the Japanese biological
warfare experiments in Harbin!
Could you?! So why
did you sign these papers?
I was responsible for everything.
Your are responsible for what you do!
All your life you thought you were
better than everyone else.
Now you think you are the worst of all!
Why can you not leave me
alone?
You save my life to make me
a puppet in your own play.
You saved me because I'm
useful to you.
Is that so terrible, to be useful?
Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi!
By order of the supreme
people's count,
the war criminal Aisin-Gioro
Pu Yi, male, fifty-three years old,
of the Manchu nationality, and from Peking,
has now served
ten years detention!
As a result of remolding thought
labor and ideological education
during his captivity,
he has shown that he has
genuinely reformed!
In accordance with clause one
of the Special Pardon Order,
he is therefore to be released!
You see, I will end up living in
prison longer than you.
Peking 1967
The Red Guards!
They are so young.
It's dangerous.
Look, over there.
Pu Chien, look!
It's the Governor of our prison!
It can't be!
It is! I'm sure it is!
Be careful! Come back!
Comrade. This must be a mistake!
I know this man! He is a good man.
Who are you?
I'm a gardener.
Join us, comrade, or fuck off!
But what has he done?
He has been accused.
Accused of what?
Confess your crimes!!
I have nothing to confess.
Kowtow to Chairman Mao!
Confess your crimes!!
I have nothing to confess.
Kowtow!
Confess your crimes!!
Wait!
He is teacher!
He is a good teacher!
- You! Get out of here!
- You can't do this to him!
- Move! You want to be him?!
- You are wrong!!
He is s good teacher!
Stop!
You are not allowed in here!
Who are you?
I live here!
I'm the son of the guardian!
Ah, Well, I used to live here, too.
That is where I sat.
Who are you?
I was the Emperor of China.
Prove it!
This is the Hall of Supreme Harmony where
the empress were crowned.
The last Emperor to be crowned
here was Aisian-Gioro Pu Yi.
He was three years old.
He died in 1967.
orderly fashion to the main waiting
room and await instructions.
No talking!
Obey the guards!
War criminals must proceed to
the waiting room!
Those caught talking
will be severely punished!
The emperor!
Your majesty. Your majesty. Your majesty.
What do they think they are doing?
Stop! It is dangerous!
Go back, Go back. Go!
Are you mad?!
They could kill us all!
Go! Go!
Open the door!! Open the door!!
Open the door!! Open the door!!
Mama!
By the command of Her lmperial Majesty,
also call, the compassionate,
and the Blessed, the Respectful
and the Long-Living,
the Empress Dowager commands
Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi,
son of Prince Chun,
shall be transferred immediately to the
Forbidden City and will remain in the
great within,
awaiting Her
Majesty's decision. Respect this!
Ar Mo. I am giving your my son.
My son is your son!
Quick! Quick!
I want to go home!
Look, look at all the camels.
Unlook at the Forbidden City!
Give him to me.
Ar Mo!
Pu Yi, come here.
How small you are. Are you
afraid of me? Everyone is.
I am the Grand Empress Dowager.
And I have lived here for a long, long time.
And they call me the old Buddha.
This is Peony. Do you like her?
Men, you know, are not allowed
in the Forbidden City after dark.
Even little men like you!
The only man who can live here is
the Emperor.
But the Emperor is on high,
riding the dragon, now!
He died today!
Longevity.
These other men, they're not real men.
They're all eunuchs.
And now, they're all wait for me to die.
That is why they're putting my
bed in the middle of the room,
under the black pearl.
Little Pu Yi, I have decide
that you will be the new Lord
of Ten-Thousand years.
You will be the Son of Heaven.
Are we going home, Papa?
Sssh! Sssh! Sssh!
It will soon be over.
Look!
Look!
Cricket!
Cricket! Cricket! Where's the cricket?!
Ahh, he is my friend, Your Majesty.
Safe and warm under my arm.
Kept me company on the long journey here.
Ahh, see? He is kowtowing to
Your Majesty.
Now, he can be
the Emperor's Cricket!
You Majesty, this is the
Forbidden City.
Ah, look! This little one is Your Majesty's
bedroom. This is where we are.
Am I going home, today?!
Not today, not yet. A-And
here, look
This is the Hall of Supreme Harmony
where Your Majesty was crowned.
I give Your Majesty the Gate of
Marshall Valor.
I give you the maju-gate the... gate!
/Yes.
Yes. And the Palace with
he Loudest Heaven... and... yes.
Your Majesty, your lmperial
bath is ready!
I don't like baths! I don't like
baths! I don't like baths!
No beam curd today and no
meat!
Is it true I can do anything
I want?
Of course, Your Majesty!
Anything you want. You are
the Lord of Ten Thousand Years.
Oh!! Oh! Oh! No! Not in my
face! Oh! Oh, no! No!
I'm the Son of Heaven!
I'm the Son of Heaven!
Yes! Oh, yes!
/I am the Son of Heaven!
Ar Mo! I want to go home!
I want to go home, I want to go home!
I want to go home, Ar Mo!
I want to go home.
Once upon a time, there was
a great tree and a great wind.
The tree and the wind were
always fighting.
His soup is getting cold!
Where am I?
In the people's Republic of China.
Why did you stop me?
You are a criminals!
You must be judged?
I repeat.
Prisoners going to their cells
will walk with their heads bowed.
Keep your eyes on the ground!
No looking forward or to the side!
The guards will give you directions
and tell you when to turn!
Pu Chieh.
Your guest is waiting to meet you.
You Majesty.
Also your mother has arrived.
You have not seen your mother
for many years. Your Majesty.
He is so small!
He is young, Your Majesty.
Go. Go!
The Emperor's brother.
His Excellency, Pu Chieh.
Ar Mo.
How is the health of His
Majesty's mother?
It is better, thank you. How
much His majesty has grown!
My mother has not seen me for
seven years!
Do you remember my face?
No!
The night they came with the horses,
I knew it would be like this.
My brother sees you everyday!
Pu Chieh is very excited to meet you.
He often talks about you.
We are all very proud of you.
The kite.
He chose this for you.
Papa!
They're turning away!
Of course! Ordinary people are
not allowed to look at the Emperor!
I am too important.
Is it true that you can do
whatever you want?
Of course, I can. If I am naughty, someone
else is punished. One of them!
Stop!
The Emperor will walk.
I have never met other children.
Are they all like you?
I've got three sisters and two friends.
If you come to our house,
you can play with us.
The Emperor never leaves the
Palace.
We play games together!
I know a game too! Run!
The ones in the boat are the
high consorts /High consorts?
The wives of the emperor
before me.
They say they're my mother,
but they're not! They're not!
Why are you wearing that?
You are not allowed to wear yellow!
But this is ordinary yellow.
It is lmperial yellow!
No, it is not!
We say it is! Only the Emperor
can wear that yellow! Take it off!
No!
Take it off!
No! And you're not the
Emperor anymore!
There is a
new Emperor now!
He has cut off his queue, and instead of a
camel, he has got a car!
What did you say?
You're not the Emperor!
Liar!
You're not the Emperor
anymore!
Liar! Liar!
You're not the...
Liar!
You're not the Emperor!
/How dare you!
Calm yourselves! Oh!
You're not the Emperor!
How dare you!
No! Your Majesty!
Calm yourselves!
Am I the Emperor or not?
Your Majesty will always be
the Emperor.
You see?
Prove it!
Big foot, drink it! Go on, drink
the green ink.
I will show you!
See? That is a car! He is the
President of the Republic.
Why is this wall here, Lord
Chamberlain?
It is just a wall, Your Majesty.
Nothing has changed.
You are lying.
Hight Tutor, am I still the
Emperor?
You will always be the Emperor
inside the Forbidden City,
but not outside.
I do not understand.
Outside China is now a republic,
with a president.
Where is Ar Mo? Ar Mo?
You are all liars!!
Let me say "good-bye"!
Hurry! Hurry!
He's my child! Ah!
Ar Mo?! Ar Mo?
I don't understand.
I don't understand.
Your Majesty is a big boy, now.
He can't have a wet nurse
anymore.
It's much better like this.
Much healthier.
But she is not my wet nurse.
She is my butterfly.
Ar Mo!!! Ar Mo!!
Ar Mo!!! Ar Mo!!
Ar Mo!!! Ar Mo!!
This is the detention center of
the Fushun Bureau of public security.
And I am the governor!
During the war, this was a
Japanese prison.
Many of you may remember it.
Because you worked with the Japanese,
you were responsible for building it and
you filled it with innocent people.
How could this happen?!
Why did you betray your
country?!
What turned you into war
criminals?
We believe that men are
born good!
We believe that the only way to
change is to discover the truth
and look at it in the face.
That is why you are here.
You will begin by writing
the story of your lives
and by confessing your crimes.
Your salvation will lie entirely
the attitude you take!
I advise you to be frank and
sincere, otherwise things can
still go very badly for you.
After a few years, the tiny republic had
become as corrupt as the old emperor.
It fell quickly into the hands of ambitions
generals and corrupt bureaucrats.
The era of the warlords had begun. By May,
China was in turmoil.
May the new tutor present
himself!
Your lmperial Highness,
the new tutor.
Dear lmperial Highness,
Mr. Reginald Fleming Johnston.
How do you do, Mr, Johnston?
How do you do, Your Majesty?
Now we will go to school.
Your Majesty, in my country, it
would be usual to begin with
some kind of an examination.
The Emperor can't be
examined.
Well, that may have to change.
But first, Your Majesty might
like to ask me some questions.
Where are your ancestors
buried?
In Scotland, Your Majesty.
But then, where's your skirt?
In your country, men wear short skirts,
do they not?
No, Your Majesty. Scotsmen do not
wear skirts, they wear kilts.
Kilts.
Kilts. A matter of words, perhaps,
but words are important.
Why are words important?
If you can't say what you
mean, Your majesty, you will
never mean what you say.
And a gentleman should always
means what he says.
Ah yes! "a gentleman".
Are you a gentleman?
I would like to be a gentleman,
Your Majesty. I try to be.
I'm not a gentleman. I'm not
allowed to say what I mean.
They are always telling me
what to say.
Your Majesty is still very
young.
I thought he might like to see some
English and American magazines.
I have just received
them.
I know that you know that I
know that you know that,
that is a dialog between
Confucius and Chuang Tzu.
Concerning respect, Your Majesty.
Who is this "George Washington"?
A famous American, Your majesty.
A revolutionary General.
The first American President.
Ah! Like Mr, Lenin in Russia?
Not quite.
Dose he have a car?
He lived a long time ago, Your Majesty.
I want a car.
I think your mouse is trying to
escape, Your Majesty.
Please do not tell anyone about
my mouse.
The lesson is finished.
Our official taster's a brave
men.
Many of my ancestors
have been poisoned, you know.
Does Your Majesty have lunch
like this everyday?
Oh, yes! Every day!
Like theater!
I don't know why.
It has always been like that.
How do they kill emperors in
the West?
The Austrian emperor was shot, was he not?
No, but his nephew was assassinated
before the Great War.
But the Russian emperor had
been shot. He was called the Tsar.
Yes.
He took lots of our land in
Manchuria.
I'm a Manchrian. Even after the republic,
it's still country.
The-uh... secret, Your Majesty,
is emerging again.
Is something the matter, Your Majesty?
Something is happening.
What is happening,
Mr, johnston?
Uh nothing is happening...
/Quiet!
On my way here, Your Majesty,
we were held up by students
from the university.
They were protesting against the
republican government.
because it has agreed to give
away Chinese territory to Japan.
It is true, Mr, Johnston, that
many people out there have had
their heads chopped off?
It is true, Your Majesty.
Many heads have been chopped off.
It does stop them thinking.
It is time for the Emperor's rest.
The students are right to be
angry.
I am angry!
But I am not allowed
to leave the Forbidden City.
I want to go out,
Mr, Johnston!
My lord!
I want to see the City of sounds!
The Emperor awards you with
the order of the Ruby Hat Button,
and with the right to be carried in your
own chair, with four bearers.
I hope the Emperor has not
forgotten that this is the
day for his math class?
For Your Majesty!
My doctor says,
"Bicycles are bad for you".
Bad for you, nonsense!
How does it work?
Oh, it's simple.
Head up and eyes forward!
As in math!
My mother is dead, is she not?
Yes, Your Majesty.
I'm profoundly sorry!
I'm not.
She killed herself.
She swallowed the ball of opium.
I'm going to see her, and my brother.
Open the door. Open the door.
Open the door.
Fallen devil and fallen machine.
Trouble! Nothing but trouble!
Look where you lead him!
And you are an old, cruel, ignorant man.
The boy's mother is dead,
and he's not even allowed to see her!
I want to go home!!
I want to go home!!
Stop it, stay where you are!!
I want to go home!!
Stop it, stay where you are!!
You fool!! Stay there!!
Chang!
Hunchback, Bigfoot!
Sir? Give me your hand, sir.
Give me your hand, sir!
Can you not see?
Look at my left ear, please, sir.
Thank you, and my right.
Thank you.
Would you follow my finger, please, sir-
Well it's perfectly simple,
Johnson. The emperor needs spectacles.
Like Harold Lloyd!
Impossible!
An emperor does
not wear spectacles!
That can't be allowed!
Time have changed,
Your Highnesses!
If His Majesty doesn't get spectacles,
Johnston, he could lose his sight.
Your Majesty.
If the Emperor does not get
spectacles, I will resign.
Unfortunately,
our decision is final.
And unfortunately, what I have to say will be
published in every newspaper in China.
What do you have to say,
Mr, Johnston?
The Emperor has been a prisoner
in his own place since the day
that he was crowned and has remained
a prisoner since he abdicated.
But now he's growing up. He may
wonder why he is the only person in China
who may not walk out of
his own front door.
I think the Emperor is the
loneliest boy on earth.
It would be conveniently sad
if he becomes blind.
Blind, Mr, Johnston?
To the expense, Your Excellency.
To the cost of maintaining one
thousand two hundred eunuchs,
three hundred and fifty
ladies-in-waiting.
and one hundred and eight-five
cooks to buying one hundred.
and twenty sable furs a month
and three thousand chickens a
week.
To the fast that eight hundred
and forty guards and employees
of the household department,
plus one Lord Chamberlain,
care only about one thing!
Filling their own rice bowls!
You are very good at accounts,
Mr, Johnston!
The Emperor may have abdicated,
but he is still a symbol
of great importance to many people.
If I did not agree with that,
I would not be here.
And some of us believe that one day soon,
he may be more than a symbol.
The spectacles are a detail.
What do you really want,
Mr, Johnston?
Ah-Just the spectacles.
The Princess Wan Jung,
Your Majesty.
Seventeen years old.
Princess Wu Chang,
fifteen years old.
The princess De Li,
Your Majesty.
And the Princess Fung Ying.
Who is this?
Princess Wen Hsiu,
twelve years old.
She has got a funny face.
Notjust one wife. One empress
and one secondary consort.
Two wives?
But who do you choose to be
the Empress?
They chose her!
She's very old, Johnston!
She's seventeen!
That's not so old, Your Majesty.
What does she look like?
Old fashion!
I want a modern wife, Johnston,
who speaks English and French!
And who can dance the
quickstep!
Johnston!!
Sir!
I'm going to escape, Johnston.
I've got a suitcase,
and a ticket to England.
I'm going to Oxford University.
Your Majesty, if you get married
you will become the master
of your own house.
A wedding might be a more
practical way to escape.
Why did you never get married,
Johnston?
The secondary consort
welcomes the Empress greets
the secondary consort.
You are doing everything very well.
Thank you.
I rehearsed many times.
What is His Majesty thinking?
I was thinking, if I was the real emperor,
I would become the ruler of China now.
And what would the Emperor do,
if he could really rule?
I would change everything.
Even the way we get married.
Is the Emperor against arranged
marriages?
It is humiliating not to choose
whom you marry!
Even I was not allowed
to choose.
In another year or two.
His Majesty will be
taller than me.
Is it true the Emperor has a suitcase
under his bed and is going to Oxford?
Will the Emperor take Wan Jung
with him?
Perhaps he would like to
see my face before he decides.
Yes, the Emperor would like to
see the face of the Empress.
It is the Emperor who must
remove the kait'ou.
I also had a tutor like Mr, Johnston.
Miss Windsor. She's American.
Miss Windsor taught me how to
do the dance of the quickstep.
Does the Emperor know hoe to
do the quickstep?
Will you teach me?
Leave us! Leave us!
If Your Majesty thinks it is old
fashioned to make the rain and
the wind with a stranger,
we can be like a modern couple,
to begin with.
A modern couple?
Good night.
Good night.
You must come to Oxford
with me.
I like him!
I'm sure I'm going to like him!
And he will grow up!
Eyes down!
Report your arrival!
Prisoner nine-eight-one
reporting.
Louder!!
Prisoner nine-eight-one
reporting.
Open the door!
Close the door!
Sit down!
Name?!
Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi.
Write it!
Now read that aloud!
We call them
toothpaste and water tap.
The toothpaste prisoner needs to be
squeezed every now and then or else
he forgets, to keep confessing.
The water tap man needs one good
hard twist before he starts.
But them everything comes out.
Now, you're an intelligent person.
I'm sure you understand me.
Good.
Then we will begin.
Why do you think you are
in here, nine-eight-one?
I'm accused of being a traitor a collaborate
and a counter-revolutionary.
It's not an accusation!!
You are a traitor, you are a collaborator and
you're a counter-revolutionary!
Did you write this?
And you call it a confession?
This is noting but a list of dates!
A child's fairy tale!
What do you want me to confess?
You know what you did and
what others did.
So why don't you
volunteer the information?
I don't understand.
We don't tell people what to confess.
We already know everything about you.
I...
Go on.
I wanted reforms.
What did you what to reform?
Everything.
Cut off my queue.
Your majesty! Please!
It's heavy!
The emperor before me was murdered
because he wanted to reform the empire.
Is that not so, Mr, Johnston?
Yes, Your Majesty. Probably.
Well, let us see if they will kill me for
reforming the Forbidden City.
Lord Chamberlain!
I'm appointing
Mr, Johnston's friend,
the poet and scholar,
Chin Hsiao Hsiu,
to be the new Lord Chamberlain.
I want him to supervise a detailed
inventory of the imperial storerooms!
So that we can learn exactly
how much has been stolen!
Can I sleep here?
I'm frightened.
You're brave.
Are you not frightened?
I'm excited.
I don't want to escape anymore.
I want to rule.
Kiss me.
Can I stay with you as well?
Get in. Get in.
I used to play a game with the eunuchs.
Trying to guess who is who.
Now I can't see you!
Jung!
Wan Jung?
When Hsiu?
Come underneath the sheet with us.
Your Majesty!
The storeroom's on fire,
Your Majesty!
What are they carrying?
Their organs.
Whatever their crimes, they can't
be deprived of the right to
be buried as whole men.
Well?!
I have forgot what
I was saving.
You're wasting our time!
We want to know about the Japanese.
How did your friendship
with the Japanese begin?
Who introduced you?!
When?!
Hmm, I think it was... it was 1924.
Parliament had been dissolved again.
The president had fled.
At first, I thought it was just another a
coup d'etat by just another warlord.
Only this time it was different.
This time it was my turn.
Fifteen, love
Play.
Thirty, fifteen.
The rotten government of
the republic is in flight!
Now we shall remove the foreign
stench of the Manchurian rats who
still hide in the Forbidden City.
Mr, Pu Yi and his family have been given
one hour to leave the Forbidden City.
They will be escorted
to the home of his father.
and remain there under guard as state
prisoners until further notice!!
What are you all looking at?
What are you standing there for?
You always wanted to leave
the Forbidden City.
Now you're got an hour to park.
So, go! Go!
I always thought I hated it here.
Now, I'm afraid to leave.
Do you think they will kill me?
You must do as they say, Your majesty,
while I try to reach the British embassy.
They will give you asylum there.
I'm sure will.
Chang, take my car to the South gate!
I want to drive His Majesty.
Your Majesty!
Please, Your Majesty!
What? But you didn't go to
the British embassy, did you?
You ended up at the Japanese embassy.
The Japanese were the only people
prepared to help me.
Help you for nothing?
Japan has an emperor.
We're almost the same age.
I thought it was kindness.
At the same time I realized that
for many Chinese I was alien.
Simply because I'm Manchurian.
There was even an anti-Manchurian
league who wanted to assassinate me!
So, I want to live in Tientsin.
It was a nice provincial town
with a big port.
In those days, we had a large,
international settlement.
The Japanese thought it would
safer for me there.
Were the Japanese paying
for you in Tientsin?
Oh! No.
I had to rent a villa,
The Villa Chan, and it was very expensive.
So were the bodyguards.
I spent a lot of money in Tientsin.
Did you still believe in a restoration
of the imperial system?
Others did.
They were later caught and exiled.
I can't remember how much jade
and jewelry they made me
spend to buy the friendship of some warlord
or some white Russian general.
And what else did you spend
your money on?
Oh, I was never tired of buying pianos,
watches, radios...
As long as they were foreign!
Of course.
Anything Western was good.
Especially Wrigley's chewing gum,
Bayer aspirin and cars.
While you were in Tientsin, most
of China came under the control
of General Chiang Kie Shek,
the so-called Nationalists,
the Kuomintang.
What were your relations with them?
None.
I felt useless in Tientsin.
I was twenty-one.
I dreamt of going to the West.
I became a playboy.
Am I blue. Am I blue.
Ain't these tears in my eyes
telling you am I blue?
You'd be too If each plan with
your girl done fell throught
was a time I was her only one.
But now I'm the sad and lonely one.
Bu-Bu-Booo. Bu-Bu-Booo.
Now she's gone and we're
throught Lord, I'm blue.
Very good.
That's a great ship...
if you're going first-class.
I'm not going anywhere.
Would you like to dance?
You're a brave man.
Nobody here would have
danced with me.
Why is that?
Because I'm Chiness.
Well, I'm American.
You say California.
I say French Riviera.
San Francisco!
Monte Carlo!! Are we really going this time?
Who's that couple?
Oh, Henry and Elizabeth.
The Emperor of China?
The Emperor and his wise.
She's beautiful.
Yes, very.
And who are you?
I'm His Highness's other wife.
His other wife?
Number two wife.
Well, some people have all the luck.
Ladies and gentlemen!
General Chiang Kai Shek
has taken Shanghai!
The Kuomintang have broken with the Reds
and have knocked them for six!
The Reds are finished!
Sorry about the reception, everyone!
It would be wiser to return to the Japanese
delegation now, Your Mejesty.
Your car is waiting.
Thank you, Mr, Amakasu.
The general strike in Shanghai
has collapsed.
The international settlement is safe.
Troops of the Kuomintang
are now in full control of the city.
And firm steps are being taken
to restore order
in the native areas.
Wen Hsiu, you want some gum?
I want a divorce.
I don't want to be your
mistress any longer.
I thought you were my
secondary consort.
In the Forbidden City, you were the
emperor and I was a secondary consort.
But now you are Henry Pu Yi.
Wan Jung is your wife, Elizabeth.
And who am I? I'm nobody.
I didn't know you were so unhappy.
You can only have one wife
in the West.
I want a divorce.
No one can divorce me!
I want a divorce!!
Your Ladyship!
Thank you.
I don't need it!
I don't need it!
Wen Hsiu?
Elizabeth! Can I come in?
Don't you remember me?
I'm dressed like a pilot,
but I still can't fly! Not yet.
Eastern Jewel!
We had dancing classes together!
Yes, just before your marriage.
Silly girl!
Why do people want to get married?
Wen Hsiu has gone.
She will never come back.
Is it so bad?
She was my only friend.
Well, at least now you've got
your husband all to yourself!
And you've got me!
I'll be your friend.
You smoke opium?
Be wicked It's the best in Shanghai!
Why are you going to Europe?
The place to go is Japan!
It's more fun than anywhere!
It's modern.
How do you know we're going
to Europe? It's a secret.
Oh, I know everything!
I know Chiang Kai Shek has got false teeth.
I even know his nickname,
"cash my check!"
I'm a spy.
I don't care who knows it.
A spy?
I work for the Japanese,
special service Bureau,
and I've come to protect you.
The Japanese.
They are getting closer to him everyday.
He is sending his brother to the
military academy in Tokyo.
They talk to him about Manchuria
all the time.
And Mr. Amakasu
never says hello to me.
I don't trust the Japanese.
Of course, I'd love to be the
Emperor's new secondary consort!
Eastern Jewel.
If the post is available.
The post is vacant,
my dear cousin.
But you don't fit the port!
Wen Hsiu left the dog behind.
Do you want it?
It's my fault.
It's all my fault.
I came to see you, Your Majesty.
To give you bad news.
Something terrible has happened.
The lmperial tombs of our Manchurian
ancestors have been attacked and robbed
by troops of the Kuomintang
Chinese soldiers.
A warlord working for
Chiang Kai Shek.
The body of the Empress Dowager
was hacked to pieces.
Her pearl necklace has become
a wedding present from
Ching Kai Shek to his new wife.
Tell me, nine-eight-one.
Do you consider yourself
to be Chinese?
Of course.
What is this?
Japan.
And what do you call this part
of China?
The Northeast.
And what did you call it
as a child?
Manchuria.
Japan invaded Manchuria on
September eighteenth, 1931.
and began to set up a puppet
state called Manchukuo.
Shortly afterwards, a Japanese delegation
paid you a secret visit in Tientsin
to request your collaboration,
which you say you refused.
Speak up!
I've already told you
I have told you a hundred times.
Tell us again! Tell us
two-hundred times!
I refused to collaborate.
You say you refused,
but a month later,
on November tenth, 1931
there your are arriving in Manchuria,
or should I call it Manchukuo?!
Now, according to this so-called
confession of yours, you didn't
go of your own free will!
- You insist that you were
kidnapped by the Japanese! /-Yes.
- And taken to Manchuria
by force! /-Yes!
Sit down!
Do you remember a man called
Reginald Fleming Johnston?
He was your tutor.
Yes.
And a good friend,
I believe.
After twenty-eight years in
China, Mr, Johnston returned
to England.
He became a professor
of original studies
at London University.
And he wrote a book. It's called
Twilight in the Forbidden City,
and it's dedicated to you.
Tientsin 1931.
I'm going to miss you,
Johnston.
I shell miss you, Your Majesty.
Do you think a man can
become emperor again?
Yes.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
How can we say "Good-bye"?
As we said, "Hello"
Farewell, Mr. Johnston.
Farewell, Your Majesty.
Good-bye, Mr. Johnston!
We'll never forget you, Mr. Johnston.
Good-bye! Mr, Johnston.
Good-bye! Good-bye!
On page four-hundred
and forty-nine, Mr. Johnston writes.
The endeavor to make out that
the Emperor had been kidnapped
by the Japanese is wholly untrue.
He left Tientsin and went to
Manchuria of his own free will.
Johnston was a liar!
What did you say?
I didn't hear you.
Mr. Johnston had left before
I was taken to Manchuria.
He couldn't have known
what happened.
Sit down!
According to this account,
you pre-packed the man's things
on the morning of November ninth!
Isn't it unusual for a man
who's kidnapped to have
his luggage packed
by his valet the day
before he's kidnapped?!
This is what you've written,
isn't it?!
Who told you to pack this man's luggage?!
These two stories don't fit,
do they?
It was a long time ago.
Perhaps I made a mistake.
You are lying!
You are both lying!!
Control yourself!
Request your choice.
Request you to change your mind.
I'm the hereditary ruler of the
Manchurian people.
There can be no Manchukuo
without me.
Do you not see?
The Japanese are using you.
I must try to use them.
The Japanese invasion of
Manchuria will be condemned
by the League of Nations
and by every civilized
country on earth!
The Chinese Republic had broken every
promise it ever made to me!
Chinese troops desecrated
the tombs of my ancestors!!
And Chinese troops didn't defend
Manchuria from the Japanese!
But Manchuria is still China!
China has turned it's back
on me.
Please, don't go.
Manchuria is the richest
frontier Asia!
Coal, oil, railways!
Millions of Chinese immigrants
are going there every year!
I'm going to build my country.
Johnston was wrong,
but he wasn't a liar.
There was no kidnapped!
You went to Manchuria by
your own choice, because
you wanted to be Emperor again!
You will rewrite your confessions
from the beginning!
Manchuria 1934
To heaven.
To earth.
To the moon.
To the sun.
You're an empress again.
What I'm going to be is a pilot!
I'm going to train at a secret
base near Yokohama to learn
precision-bombing.
I want to bomb Shanghai.
Bomb Shanghai?
I hate China!
I hate you.
The Japanese Army High Command!
Very impressive!
The Japanese Army!
Quickly!
Uh, may I introduce you?
My wife, the Princess Hiro Saga.
Prime Minister Hsiao Hsiu.
Honorable Chang Ching Hui,
Minister of Defense.
Monseigneur, Colonna.
The Empress and I accept with
great pleasure.
Excuse me, General.
Ahh! And now Mr, Amakasu.
He's the new chief of the Manchuria
Motion Picture studies.
Why do you have to spoil this day? Why?
Mr. Amakasu is the most
powerful man in Manchukuo.
What are you talking about?
You didn't believe I could be
Emperor again, but I am.
You are blind.
Do you know what it means
to be an empress? You are an empress!
Why do you not make love to
me anymore?
Because you have become an
opium addict.
Opium killed my mother,
opium destroyed China.
You can buy opium anywhere
in Manchukuo!
Shut up!
- In any shop.
- Shut up!
Your brother is going to have
a child.
We must have a child.
We must have an heir!
Emperor Hirohito has officially
invited us to Japan.
I'm going alone!
You are staying here.
I would never go to Japan.
Then go to your room!
Ten thousand years to His Majesty!
Ten thousand years!
I told you, I hate you.
Only because I give you what you need.
Now we're engaged.
You forgot my toothpowder.
Oh... yes... sir.
Move him!
Nine-eight-one!
Collect your things!
Upstairs!
Stop!
Your laces are undone.
Do them up!
Thursday, you serve lunch.
Friday, you clean the toilet.
Saturday, you sweep the floor.
I have never been separated
from my family.
You'd better get used to it!
You don't remember me, do you?
I was the Minister of Trade,
in Manchukuo.
You were all in Manchukuo.
Now, I'm the cell leader.
It is important to follow the rules here.
No talking during study session!
Manchuria 1935
Where is your gun, Captain?
Where are their swords?
Our weapons have been
removed, Your majesty,
on order of colonel Yoshioka.
Colonel Yoshioka?
Colonel Yoshioka!
What has happened here?
Why has my guard been disarmed?
Yes, it's very unfortunate, Your Majesty.
There have been many
changes while you were in Tokyo.
Your Majesty, may I present
Masaomi Kobayakawa, the new
Japanese ambassador to Manchukuo.
Why is prime Minister Hsiao
Hsiu not here to receive me?
The prime Minister has resigned,
Your Majesty.
His son been
assassinated.
Assassinated?
By communist bandits,
Your Majesty.
I must see him at once.
He refuse to see anyone, Your majesty.
He has gone to a monastery, far away.
Who are you?
Chang Ching Hui, Your Majesty.
Minister of Defense.
Yes, of course.
The council meeting will be at
four o'clock,
Your Majesty. Before the state dinner.
I'm going to have a child.
The father is Manchurian.
Colonel Yoshioka, Mr. Amakasu!
I did it for you!
His Majesty forgot to sign the
appointment of the new prime
Minister Mr. Chang Ching Hui!
I didn't forget.
When an Englishman robs someone,
Your Majesty, he becomes a gentleman.
If he robs a lot, he becomes a knight.
Do you imagine the British run
their Empire as a charity?
If India has to pay for the
cost of it's own occupation,
so must Manchukuo.
We hope Manchukuo will have an heir.
The Empress is expecting a child.
Yes, Your Majesty.
We are aware of the situation.
This is the name of the father.
His name is Chang!
He is your driver!
All the necessary facts have been recorded.
The man will be punished.
The emperor can't allow
his honor to be stained.
The Japanese are the only
divine race on earth.
We will take China,
Hong-Kong, Indo-China,
Siam, Malaya,
Singapore, and India!
Asia belongs to us!!
There have been complaints
from your cellmates.
You must learn how to urinate
at night without working them all up!
The way to do it's to urinate
against the side of the bucket,
not into the middle!
Yes, comrade.
You still think I'm your
servant, don't you?
We are all pretending.
You are just pretending
you have changed.
Shut up! The party will teach
us to be a new man!!
We're working for a new China!!
You worked in Amakasu's private office.
You are still the same people!
People don't change.
Guard!! Guard!!
Guard!!
And I let it happen.
I let it happen.
The second edict, Your Majesty.
Japanese will be the official
language in Manchukuo schools.
Your Majesty!
The baby was born dead, Your Majesty.
How is the Empress?
It would be better if she gone
to a clinic, somewhere warm.
She's already left,
Your Majesty.
Open the door.
With Manchukuo now firmly in
their grasp, the Japanese soon
controlled most of North China.
By 1937 they were ready to strike South,
at the heart of the country.
The attack on Shanghai was one of the
first civilian bombing raids in history.
It left thousands homeless,
thousands dead.
Three months later, Japanese armies were
besieging the provisional capital at Nanking.
And when the city fell,
the atrocities began.
Trying to terrorize
the rest of China,
more than two hundred thousands
of the civilians exacuted.
The world watched in horror,
but no help was given.
On December the seventh, 1941
Japan attacked the American fleet
at Pearl Harbor.
There was no warning.
Manchukuo, the Japanese bastion
in North China, was still ruled
by the puppet emperor, Pu Yi.
But behind the facade of triumph,
was a country enslaved.
Nine days after the bomb at Hiroshima,
on August the fifteenth 1945.
Emperor Hirohito announced
the surrender of Japan.
It was the first time his voice
had ever been heard on radio.
You must get to Tokyo, Your majesty.
You must surrender to
the Americans, not the Russians.
The communists will kill everyone!
The Empress has returned.
Your Majesty, please.
Your Majesty!
Hurry! There is no room on the
plane, Your Majesty!
The women aren't in danger!
We must hurry!!
Your Majesty!
Your Majesty is leaving now!
Now!
The Russians!
Perhaps you think we are here
to teach men to lie in a new way.
Why did you sign every
accusation made against you?
I didn't step you from killing
yourself to see you like this...
Someone who signs anything to please
his enemies, to please me!
You know about a lot of things in
Manchukuo. Even the secret agreements.
But you couldn't possibly have
known about the Japanese biological
warfare experiments in Harbin!
Could you?! So why
did you sign these papers?
I was responsible for everything.
Your are responsible for what you do!
All your life you thought you were
better than everyone else.
Now you think you are the worst of all!
Why can you not leave me
alone?
You save my life to make me
a puppet in your own play.
You saved me because I'm
useful to you.
Is that so terrible, to be useful?
Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi!
By order of the supreme
people's count,
the war criminal Aisin-Gioro
Pu Yi, male, fifty-three years old,
of the Manchu nationality, and from Peking,
has now served
ten years detention!
As a result of remolding thought
labor and ideological education
during his captivity,
he has shown that he has
genuinely reformed!
In accordance with clause one
of the Special Pardon Order,
he is therefore to be released!
You see, I will end up living in
prison longer than you.
Peking 1967
The Red Guards!
They are so young.
It's dangerous.
Look, over there.
Pu Chien, look!
It's the Governor of our prison!
It can't be!
It is! I'm sure it is!
Be careful! Come back!
Comrade. This must be a mistake!
I know this man! He is a good man.
Who are you?
I'm a gardener.
Join us, comrade, or fuck off!
But what has he done?
He has been accused.
Accused of what?
Confess your crimes!!
I have nothing to confess.
Kowtow to Chairman Mao!
Confess your crimes!!
I have nothing to confess.
Kowtow!
Confess your crimes!!
Wait!
He is teacher!
He is a good teacher!
- You! Get out of here!
- You can't do this to him!
- Move! You want to be him?!
- You are wrong!!
He is s good teacher!
Stop!
You are not allowed in here!
Who are you?
I live here!
I'm the son of the guardian!
Ah, Well, I used to live here, too.
That is where I sat.
Who are you?
I was the Emperor of China.
Prove it!
This is the Hall of Supreme Harmony where
the empress were crowned.
The last Emperor to be crowned
here was Aisian-Gioro Pu Yi.
He was three years old.
He died in 1967.