The Emperor and the Assassin
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| The Emperor and the Assassin | |
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 DVD case cover |
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| Directed by | Chen Kaige |
| Produced by | Beijing Film Studio |
| Written by | Chen Kaige Wang Peigong |
| Starring | Gong Li Zhang Fengyi Chen Kaige |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics (U.S.) |
| Release date(s) | December 17, 1999 (U.S.) |
| Running time | 162 min |
| Language | Mandarin |
| IMDb profile | |
The Emperor and the Assassin (荊柯刺秦王) is a 1999 Chinese historical romance film made in the People's Republic of China. The movie was directed by Chen Kaige and stars Gong Li, Zhang Fengyi, Li Xuejian, and Zhou Xun. The common transliteration of the film's Chinese title is "Jing ke ci qin wang". The movie was very well received critically and won the Technical Prize at the Cannes film festival in 1999.
[edit] Synopsis
In the 3rd Century BC, Ying Zheng (Li Xuejian), heir to the Kingdom of Qin, seeks to dominate the remaining six Chinese kingdoms. Ying's strategy is to seem invincible. Ying sends his concubine Zhao (Gong Li) to the Kingdom of Yan as a spy, to enlist a Yan assassin to attempt to kill Ying. The assassination attempt is to be used as a basis to start war with the Yan. Zhao persuades Yan assassin Jing Ke (Fengyi Zhang), to perform the assassination. However, after Zhao witnesses the aftermath of Ying's bloody massacre of the neighboring Kingdom of Zhao children, she falls in love with Jing, takes allegiance with the Yan and helps them try to kill Ying. The assassination attempt fails, but Ying is disgraced as none of his associates attempt to stop the assassin and he is forced to kill Jing himself. Ying's disgrace is completed when Zhao comes back to Qin to take the dead body of Jing back with her to Yan so as to give him a proper burial.
The movie covers a great deal of Qin Shi Huang's life, from his early life as a hostage to his dominance over all of China.
The 2002 film Hero, covers a highly fictionalized continuation of the story of Qin but from a radically different perspective.
[edit] External links
| Films directed by Chen Kaige |
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| Yellow Earth (1984) • The Big Parade (1986) • King of Children (1987) • Life on a String (1991) • Farewell My Concubine (1992) • Temptress Moon (1996) • The Emperor and the Assassin (1999) • Killing Me Softly (2002) • Together (2003) • The Promise (2005) |
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