Analysis of the audiovisual language of the movie The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor is a biographical film released in Italy in 1987, which won nine awards at the 60th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Art. The film's director, Bernardo Bertolucci, tells the story of the tragic life of China's last emperor through the film's contrasts of color and light, and through the expression of symbolic imagery on several occasions, aided by an atmospheric soundtrack. This paper will analyze the use of audiovisual language in The Last Emperor by analyzing the film's light, shadow and color, the symbolic expression rich in deep meaning visually, and the soundtrack in the film aurally.