But some Chinese critics argued that Bertolucci had created an image of China that was very critical, that his film was "a Chinese myth filled with black humor." Setting that aside, Bertolucci's fantastic visual sense certainly brought great realism to his shots of the Forbidden City.
但也有中國評論者認為，貝托魯奇創造的中國形象很具批判性，這是一部「帶有黑色幽默的中國神話」；此外，他的視覺鏡頭很有味道，將北京故宮拍得很有質感。