You never know what will strike a chord and stay fixed in your memory but often it is something small and specific. When it comes to Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1987 film The Last Emperor it’s the sound of the black pearl scraping against the Empress Dowager’s teeth as her attendant slips it forcefully into her dead mouth. It’s not grotesque, it’s simply a vivid moment made palpable by a specific sound.
