MovieChat Forums > The Last Emperor (1988) Discussion > What, exactly, happened to the Empress?

What, exactly, happened to the Empress?

posted 15 years ago by pninson
14 replies | jump to latest

I've seen this film innumerable times, and I still can't figure out what happened to the Empress at the end. Presumably her baby was taken away and killed; then she's sent to some "clinic", which is probably a lot like the "psychiatric wards" the Soviets had in the Gulag. So we can assume she was ... tortured?

It's certainly not critical to the plot --- she's a broken woman, left with little but her hatred. But I can't help but wonder why she walks with a limp, and something seems to have clouded her vision --- her eyes look odd.

We report, you decide; but we decide what to report.

[–] psicerio 15 years ago

I believe she came back the way that she did was probably because she was punished for cheating on the emperor.

I had a separate question about this: when the empress was taken away, who were the man and woman holding hands on the balcony?

[–] manga-ben 15 years ago

I just watched it again just now and I think it was. Eastern Jewel the old dance friend of the empress. And Amakasu the man who helped to install the emperor as a puppet for the Japanese. Both of them holding hands signifies their little love affair and the fact they both deceived the Emperor and the empress.

[–] zarathustra_777 15 years ago

The union of China's Manchurina ruling class with the Japanese empire

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rwsmith29456 15 years ago

I think you got it right. The baby was killed upon being born and they tortured her mentally and physically to break her and keep her quiet.

[–] alex-2004 15 years ago

The Empress gets even more depressed after her baby being killed. She smokes tones of opium to forget her pain. At the end she trys to flee by foot, is robbed by marouding troops and then imprisoned. In prison, she experiances opium withdrawel, malnutrition and dies miserably.
Thats it. Quite a sad ending.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ayko 12 years ago

it was the japanese who killed the baby.

[–] princesstinymeat 10 years ago

They're good at math too.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gailmor1 10 years ago

I have my own theory about the killing of the Empress's baby. Her husband, Pu Yi, didn't care about the father and probably would have loved the child as his own. However, you have to look at who was really in power at the time. Pu Yi and his wife were puppets and Emperor and Empress in name only. Therefore, for them to conceive a child it would mean that another generation would reign as Emperor and the Japanese would not allow this. While the move clearly took some liberties and allowed us to speculate you have to think for yourself. The Japanese really didn't care who Pu Yi's wife had slept with even though they made a pretense to care. They just didn't want another Emperor to be born.

As for the Empress, think about it. If you delivered a happy, healthy baby and then watched it get murdered in front of you that would probably drive you made, wouldn't it? Add to the fact that, as others have said, she was probably sent to a psych ward and was mentally and physically broken. She would definitely have been bonkers after that.

[–] Fattycakes 8 years ago

Not disputing it but what was the Japanese rationale for not having a successor to the emperor? They can puppet a fully grown adult... they could easily control the baby. Or did they want to formally control Manchuria by that point in their projected timeline?

[–] Itsmedrooms2 8 years ago

So what really happened to the empress historically? I found her last appearance in the film so disturbing and sad. I understand that it was in the Japanese interest to kill the heir and to banish the empress to silence her and to further isolate Pu Yi making him easier to control. However, what was the purpose in torturing her and breaking her physically and mentally if that was indeed the case? I guess punishing her for acting contrary to Japan's wishes in trying to produce an heir and probably forced sterilization. It was disturbing for what was implied instead of what was revealed.

[–] joshuaas 7 years ago

She had a very sad life and her death was no better. After the death of her baby she became even more cripplingly addicted to opium. She and her entourage were eventually captured by the Soviets who allowed her to die of withdrawal and starvation in prison. Her body was never found and Puyi was reportedly emotionless when he found out.