MovieChat Forums > Ba wang bie ji (1993) Discussion > Why kill himself years later?

Why kill himself years later?

posted 20 years ago by w_alli
47 replies | jump to latest

I was just wondering why Douzi killed himself at the end of the opera (the last scene of the movie)?
Was it b/c he was confronted with the ambiguity of his gender? That he really does feel he is forever the concubine and must fulfill it?

And why he would kill himself years after the revolution when Shitou betrayed him?? Like wasn't he offended even tho he betrayed him later about his wife? And if he managed to forgive him, then why would he kill himself when he finally got Shitou all to himself since Shitou's wife killed herself?

Those q's are just cuz it kinda got muddy and i didn't really fully understand why he did what he did. it's been bugging me so if ya share your interpretations that would be great. thanks.

[–] trpdean 20 years ago

I wish I could help - but I have exactly the same questions!

It's a puzzling movie in many respects. For example, I don't recall the person who is eling cigarettes as the Communists march in - the two central characters call him/her "mother" - but who IS that?

Again, what do the characters DO for a living after 1949?

Again, is the young protege sad during the denunciation of the two central characters in the Cultural Revolution? I found the look on his face ambiguous.

Again, why would Cheung's character continue to draft letters to his mother - and then have them burned?

This movie is often unclear.

[–] esbpca 20 years ago

Oh, the guy selling cigarettes was the guy that the opera was hosted for the first time that Douzi and Shitou went on an actual stage. He um, requested Douzi for something following the play and chased him around and...yeah. They spoke about him getting ran out of business at some point in the middle of the movie.

Douzi might still be acting after 1949 but I know that he's with that Yuan guy for support.

I think the young protege was regretful, but I can't tell. He was not joining with the mob mentality at the time, seeing his teachers treated then falling from grace like that.

I think he burns the letters because a part of him doesn't really want contact with her, the prostitute that abandoned him (though she abandoned him because there was nothing else she could do)

I guess you have to fill in the blanks yourself with this movie. I think Douzi killed himself in the end because of opera being all he cared for and Concubine Yu being him. Shitou said how it would be his last time and what else did Douzi have to live for but playing that part with Shitou as King?

[–] sandylou_2585 18 years ago

I like to think that Douzi kills himself because, as this will be the last time they perform it together, there is nothing else to do...
He lives for the opera, he believes in it and he knows that the concubine must die... he knows what he has to do during his last performance.
although i wish he didnt because even though i saw it coming i still cried buckets!

[–] mangoninja 19 years ago

In the Chinese culture, you send things to the dead by burning them. For instance, you burn paper money so that your ancestors will have money in the afterlife, etc. So I thought that he was sending his letters to his mother. I don't recall that it states that she died... but one can assume.

[–] haifish 19 years ago

I saw the movie just now, when does he burn the letters? I cannot find the scene.

[–] Seolas 19 years ago

I saw it, but that was in the Director's Cut version. Do you have the Theatrical Cut? I haven't seen that, but maybe it was left out...?

http://www.epicmania.com - Epic Mania, the internet's first epics super-site!

[–] googoodolls520 18 years ago

because he was betraied by Duan Xiaolou the one which Cheng Dieyi really loved.. man to man...Cheng Dieyi could not stand the one he really trusted betraied him...and he went though the hard time with disgrace and depression
and when Wen Ge is over..He don't have to stand all of this sad memories anymore...He killer himself to end it over...All the pain ,sadness ,shame die with him....

i guess you are not Chinese race so you cannot understand this movie better...

it's really really good movie based on Chinese history ..and top chinese movie ever made....

[–] thepoet26 18 years ago

It's the best movie ever made PERIOD, in my opinion. I have never been so moved by another film. I'm currently reading the book and must say, I may be in the minority here but I think the film may in fact be even BETTER than the book.

Baba mi Ogun modupue

[–] law82 20 years ago

First of all Douzi, after all this years of acting, is living in a world somewhere between reality and stage. He is confused about his gender and he wants to get away from the harsh reality, in other words, he wants to BE the concubine in the story. His love of Shitou is beyond that of a friend, or even a lover, he worshipped Shitou, because he used to protect him and also because he thinks Shitou is the character that he plays. However, during the cultural revolution, Douzi saw with his own eyes that Shitou is just a common man, even a coward, and nothing could bring him back to be the one that Douzi loved so much, so that is why he killed himself on stage, because this is the only way that he could die in love, instead of growing old and die in regret and disappointment.

Hope this helps you.

[–] withoutmind 18 years ago

Well, good explaination.

[–] bluerainbow6 11 years ago

Totally agree, law82.

[–] emuir-1 20 years ago

Dieyi (Douzi) identified himself with the concubine of the legend, therefore when he had Shitou all to himself at last, he showed his loyalty/love by committing suicide just as the concubine had done. Of course he had been forced to think of himself as a girl for all those years, and by then he knew he could not change.

[–] zen86 20 years ago

The easiest way to fill in the gaps from the movie would be to borrow or buy the book, which covers everything, even what happens in that 11 year gap

[–] christatimbers 19 years ago

I love when spoilers are in the subject.

---
Christa

[–] bootblack987 10 years ago

I love when spoilers are in the subject.

I always want to know how the movie ends before watching it. Thanx alot.

I love people who, instead of watching the movie, making a point of going to a message board where we dissect that said movie into a million tiny pieces. And then complain about being spoiled.

[–] zhehuatsui 19 years ago

I wonder how much this film influenced his real suicide.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] tpz_stamp 19 years ago

Perhaps it's because the conofused gender just as some guys said. But I think the suicide is mostly because of be tired of the dirty world around him. He cannot find a place in the sick society. He was a artist and he looked for his love. But in the evil world, he could find them neither. The best choice is to leave.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] akainoir 19 years ago

I always want to know how the movie ends before watching it. Thanx alot.

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