Editing The Last Emperor (section)

== Historical accuracy ==
British historian [[Alex von Tunzelmann]] wrote that the movie considerably downplays and misrepresents the Emperor's cruelty, especially during his youth.<ref name="Tunzelmann">{{cite news|last=Tunzelmann|first=Alex|date=16 April 2009|title=The Last Emperor: Life is stranger, and nastier, than fiction|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/15/the-last-emperor|access-date=2015-11-29}}</ref> As stated by Tunzelmann and Behr (author of the 1987 book ''The Last Emperor''), Puyi engaged in sadistic abuse of palace servants and subordinates during his initial reign well in excess of what Bertolucci's movie portrays, frequently having eunuchs beaten for mild transgressions or no reason at all; in a demonstrative example, the young Emperor once conspired to force a eunuch to eat a cake full of iron filings simply to see the eunuch's reaction, which he was talked out of by his beloved wet nurse with some difficulty.<ref name="Tunzelmann" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Behr|first=Edward|title=The Last Emperor|publisher=Futura|year=1987|location=Toronto}}</ref> Tunzelmann states that most people worldwide who have heard of Puyi are likely to have an incorrect understanding of this aspect of the Emperor's reign, as the movie is much more popular globally than more accurate biographies.<ref name="Tunzelmann" />

The film contains several other historical inaccuracies: in real life, Puyi left the Forbidden City when his mother died; as he recounts in his memoirs, he did not have sex with his wives; Puyi actually stopped the Japanese from killing the Empress's lover rather than let him be murdered; although the film mentions the [[1924 Beijing Coup|Beijing Coup]], it erroneously claims that the president fled the capital instead of being put under house arrest; the testimonies that Puyi gives to his Chinese interrogators were in fact given at the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East|Tokyo Trials]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Richard |date=1988-05-08 |title=Is 'The Last Emperor' Truth or Propaganda? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/08/movies/is-the-last-emperor-truth-or-propaganda.html |access-date=2023-01-09 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A HISTORIAN CRITIQUES 'EMPEROR' |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-01-07-8803200415-story.html |access-date=2023-01-09 |website=Chicago Tribune|date=7 January 1988 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-04-16 |title=The Last Emperor: life is stranger, and nastier, than fiction |url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/15/the-last-emperor |access-date=2023-01-09 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

Jeremy Thomas recalled the approval process for the screenplay with the Chinese government: "It was less difficult than working with the studio system. They made script notes and made references to change some of the names, then the stamp went on and the door opened and we came."<ref name="berlinale" />