Description: This motion picture epic is the latest triumph from the critically acclaimed director of FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE. Praised as another masterpiece, TEMPTRESS MOON is a captivating story of a beautiful young woman, her seductive lover, and their struggle for power, passion, and revenge -- so shocking, it was banned in the director's own country! Highly provocative and filled with unforgettable sensual imagery, TEMPTRESS MOON is an absolutely riveting cinematic experience -- don't miss it!
Amazon.com: Chen Kaige, the director of Farewell My Concubine, returns with another sumptuous, if hard to follow, film about old China. Set in the decadent 1920s, Temptress Moon tells the very complicated story of a wealthy family living on the outskirts of Shanghai. Their youngest daughter, Ruyi, is brought up as a servant to her opium-addicted father and brother. Meanwhile, her brother-in-law Zhongliang has a successful, if illegal, career seducing and blackmailing married women in the city. When he comes to Ruyi's home the two fall in love, and trouble ensues. Mostly, though, Temptress Moon is about beautiful images. The densely populated plot is basically an excuse for showing golden bells and bowls, pagoda roofs set against the moon, and richly woven carpets. More of a meditation than a movie, Temptress Moon is probably not as accessible or enjoyable as its critically acclaimed predecessor Farewell My Concubine, which may be a better place to start in the appreciation of contemporary Chinese cinema. --James DiGiovanna
Gong Li and Leslie Cheung do it again!! When you think of great Chinese films, you think of director Zhang Yimou, actress Gong Li and actor Leslie Cheung. Well Temptress Moon has two of the three, Gong and Cheung and fills in the third with Chen Kaige. Chen is a the director of Farewell, My Concubine. Like Zhang, Chen is a master of the visual sophistication. His use of color is exceptional.
The Pang family runs the opium trade from their country estates. The head of the clan has two children, the older son and the much younger daughter Riyu. The older son is married. She has a younger brother, Zhongliang, who she brings to live at the estate. He is to study and prepare her husband's opium pipe. But after a while, he gets tired of his second class citizenship and poisons the opium, leaving his brother in law a vegetable.
Zhongliang escapes to the city and becomes an escort who blackmails his liaisons. When the head of the Pang family dies, Riyu is named as the new head with the help of a distant cousin, Wansu. Upon hearing this, the head of the gang that Zhongliang works for decides that it is time to send him back to the Pangs.
Zhongliang returns and sets his sights on Riyu. She responds to his advances but things takes an unexpected twist when he realizes that he cannot deceive her. To further complicate things, a third suitor enters the mix. Riyu was promised at birth to the eldest son of another clan but this was cancelled because of her opium use. He is now grown up and has decided to make his own mind up. Of the three he would be the most acceptable.
The film ends in Shakespearean tragedy.
This is a beautiful film with textured performances but the film belongs to Cheung. His role is the most complex. Gong is also very good but this is not one of her best roles (look to The Story of Qui Ju and To Live to see what she is capable of.)
DVD EXTRAS: None
about the movie temptress moon...... I bought the DVD from Singapore videoshops and have grabbed a copy and watched....hee hee....The story is about old chinese period where it involved the loving between the opposite party and the not loving situation where the actress finally get poisoned by opium and the actor killed by bad company he joined in shanghai after he left the old family style and wnt all the way to shanghai to study. There are a few scenes which are filmed in dark situation that show that the actress have sex. It is done in a smart way to such an extent that film censoring department are not able to say that these are sexual scenes. Recommended to those whom are interested in this genre of DVD film/movie.
Review by:
(Dr)Ang Poon Kah Rogue university professor certificate PhD (Prof) in political science from Cambridge University and NUS. PhD (Prof) in Neuroscience from Cambridge University and NUS. PhD (Prof) in Technology from Cambridge University and NUS. PhD (Prof) in Security System from Cambridge University and NUS PhD (Prof) in Computer from Cambridge University and NUS. PhD (Prof) in film from Cambridge University and NUS. PhD (Prof) in Business from Cambridge University and NUS. PhD (Prof) in Electronics Engineering from Cambridge University and NUS. Bachelor degree in computer studies from Techco University Zakkers film director imagine entertainment for film/movie the Da Vinci Code.
Total Eclipse! Definitely worth pining for! I decided to purchase Temptress Moon after viewing the breathtaking, and devastating, Farewell My Concubine. Both movies feature the amazing talents of Gong Li and Leslie Cheung. So total is their transformation between the two films, it's difficult to believe that these are the same actors. While Concubine served as a historical epic, Temptress Moon seemed more along the lines of Shakespearean tragedy. Like Kaige's previous work, the characters' frustrations signify larger themes: domestic turmoil; gender repression; family conflict; etc. Although these themes concern the private sphere of life and are not as overtly political as those addressed in Concubine, they are just as much about power, its abuse and the resulting disfigurement of the human spirit.
Temptress Moon is by no means a romance. The movie succeeds in being lyrical and melancholy - more engrossing than entertaining. Despite the requisite tragic ending, I found the plot to be oddly satisfying! The waxing and waning fates of Zhongliang, Ruyi, and Duanwu intertwined to create a luminous study of the heart and its insatiable hunger. Overall, Temptress Moon was a clear reflection of the obsessions that ruthlessly dictate interpersonal affairs. Leslie Cheung, Gong Li and Kevin Lin give mesmerizing performances, while supporting portrayals like that of Caifei He as Zhongliang's sister and Yin Tse as Zhongliang's Boss are equally flawless. (Among the movie's many moral messages: "Don't Do Drugs!" :)
The film was not quite there for me I must admit to being slightly disappointed in Temptress Moon. The film looks good. Gong-li always looks good. And the film does a good job showing the corruption in government and lifestyle that was the Nationalist Period. According to the film, The China of Chiang Kai-shek and the decadence of the period was not good for the people of China.
Unfortunately, the film is quite slow. The film lacks those unforgettable moments of the many 5th Generations films. Don't get me wrong, the film is a good period peace and shows the horrors of Opium. But ultimately, it needed to move up a couple of notch's.
A Chinese soap opera This is a domestic drama of the 1920s when China was fought over by warlords and Shanghai was a city ruled by fat-cat Western and Japanese interests and Chinese criminals. The chaos and split-personality of China at the time is captured by the film.
What you can say about this movie is that it was not directed by Zhang Yimou who did (if I'm not mistaken) Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou which were excellent movies. "Temptress Moon" is similar to Zhang's work. But Gong Li, the lead actress, is less sensual than usual, the story is convoluted and complicated, and the plot strains credibility.
The lead male character, Zhong, is a Chinese Tom Cruise. The women all love him, despite the fact that he's a louse. He suffers horribly because they suffer because of their love for him. Nobody suffers as much as Gong Li. The photography is gorgeous. The movie is worth seeing and is intriguing -- but it's not good enough to see several times to puzzle out what is going on.
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