Temptress Moon
| Temptress Moon | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Traditional | 風月 |
| Simplified | 风月 |
| Mandarin | Fēng yuè |
| Directed by | Chen Kaige |
| Produced by |
Hsu Feng Sunday Sun Tong Cunlin |
| Written by | |
| Screenplay by | Shu Kei |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Christopher Doyle |
| Edited by | Pei Xiaonan |
| Distributed by | Tomson (Hong Kong) Films Co., Ltd. (China) Miramax Films (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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130 minutes |
| Language | Mandarin |
Temptress Moon is a 1996 Chinese film directed by Chen Kaige. It was jointly produced by the Shanghai Film Studio and the Taipei-based Tomson Films. The film saw Chen reuniting with Leslie Cheung and Gong Li who had previously worked with him in his breakout international hit Farewell My Concubine.
Temptress Moon premiered at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, where it was in competition for the Palme d'Or that eventually went to Mike Leigh's Secrets & Lies. Despite its international profile, however, the film was banned by state authorities in Mainland China.
The film opens in 1912, immediately before the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the abdication of Emperor Pu Yi. The Pang clan, a wealthy family in a small town near Shanghai is suffering a similarly drawn out decline. Yu Zhongliang (Leslie Cheung), then a 13-year-old boy, arrives at the Pang estate to live there along with his sister Yu Xiuyi (He Caifei) and her husband, Pang Zhengda (Zhou Yemang). There, he is treated like a servant by his brother-in-law who forces him to kiss his own sister while intoxicated by the effects of opium. In revenge Zhongliang poisons his brother-in-law's opium pipe and flees. Chen Kaige, however, deliberately leaves the audience in the dark, making Zhongliang's flight from the Pang estate all the more mysterious. As Zhongliang attempts to find his way to Beijing, however, he is taken by several men who lead him to Shanghai where he is embraced by the triads.
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