Talking about the joys and sorrows of two Peking Opera artists for half a century is actually talking about China people's thinking and understanding of human existence and human nature. The film not only has a deep sense of history, but also has a delicate male friendship and epic pattern. It shows the joys and sorrows of small people with the historical development of China in the past half century.

Extended information:

In the movie, Leslie Cheung plays Cheng Dieyi, Gong Li plays Ju Xian and ZhangFeng yi plays Duan Xiaolou.

The film mainly tells that ZhangFeng yi and Leslie Cheung play a pair of other disciples who make a living by singing Peking Opera. Once they co-starred in Farewell My Concubine, they became famous in Beijing.

In the later performance, Cheng Dieyi, who plays Yu Ji, gradually fell in love with Duan Xiaolou, who plays Xiang Yu. However, Duan Xiaolou likes Ju Xian. After they got married, the three of them started a half-life struggle. Finally, Ju Xian chose to hang herself, and Cheng Dieyi committed suicide in Xiang Yu's arms in the guise of Yu Ji.