The Emperor and the Assassin

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The Emperor and the Assassin
DVD case cover
Directed by	Chen Kaige
Produced by	Han Sanping Satoru Iseki Shirley Kao
Written by	Chen Kaige Wang Peigong
Starring	Gong Li Zhang Fengyi Zhou Xun Li Xuejian Chen Kaige
Music by	Zhao Jiping
Cinematography	Zhao Fei
Editing by	Zhou Xinxia
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	October 8, 1998 December 17, 1999 July 21, 2000
Running time	162 min
Country	China
Language	Mandarin
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Emperor and the Assassin (Chinese: 荊柯刺秦王; pinyin: Jīng Kē cì Qín Wáng) is a 1999 China 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 (in her feature film debut). The movie was very well received critically and won the Technical Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999.

[edit] Plot

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 (Zhang Fengyi), 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 Ying Zheng's life, from his early life as a hostage to his dominance over all of China.

[edit] Awards

The Emperor and the Assassin won the Technical Grand Prize at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme D'or. Zhao Fei was awarded the 1999 Golden Rooster Award for Best Cinematography.

[edit] External links

The Emperor and the Assassin at Rotten Tomatoes

v • d • e Films directed by Chen Kaige

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 (2002) • The Promise (2005) • Mei Lanfang (2008)

v • d • e Cinema of China

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