The Last Emperor (1987)

The Last Emperor parents guide

The thing to know: moderate sex and nudity, more than a PG-13 usually carries. Beyond that, mild language and some violence.

Our estimate: fine from about 16, higher than the PG-13 suggests, because of the sex and nudity.

Scare

Not scary

Jump scares

None noted

Gore

Light gore

Some blood or injury, briefly.

Violence

Some violence

Some fighting or peril.

Sex and nudity

Moderate

Moderate means a sex scene or nudity on screen, even brief, or sexual violence that is described or implied but never shown.

Language

Mild

Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

How gory is The Last Emperor?

Light gore and some violence.

What is The Last Emperor rated, and is it OK for kids?

For teens, mostly: it is rated PG-13, with moderate sex and nudity.

What is The Last Emperor about?

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

Cast and crew

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The Last Emperor is on our 1980s, Criterion and Drama on Criterion lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

• “a movie that will make me cry”
• “a thriller with a twist, no spoilers”
• “funny but not stupid, under two hours”

Lists with the same feel: Tearjerkers and Epics.