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Luminous 'Temptress Moon' complex, transfixing
July 2, 1997
Web posted at: 4:05 p.m. EDT (2005 GMT)From Reviewer Paul Tatara
(CNN) -- Director Chen Kaige, whose last film, "Farewell My Concubine," was a sizable art house hit in 1993, now brings us "Temptress Moon," an almost mean-spiritedly sensual study of China in the midst of social upheaval during the 1920s. The mean-spiritedness comes from a story that pits men against women as warring factions in a battle that can never be won -- the battle for sexual superiority.
The film as a whole is drenched in larcenous seduction, the exquisite photography (by cinematographer Christopher Doyle) serving to lure an unsuspecting audience into its misogynistic web.
Excerpt of trailer:
1M/23 sec. QuickTime movie
Entire trailer:
The misogyny stems not from the filmmakers, but from the time and setting. The story begins in 1911, as China's emperor is abdicating his throne in the midst of revolution. This throws open the doors of change in a country of intense political and sexual tradition. A prologue introduces us to the main characters, who, as we are informed, are "three children poised on the threshold of time, waiting for a new era to reveal itself."
A young boy named Zhongliang (Leslie Cheung) has been invited into the palace of the feudal Pang clan after his sister Xiuyi (He Saifei) marries their son. Initially, Zhongliang is told that this will afford him the opportunity to get an education, but he soon becomes a servant to his sister and her opium-addicted husband.
He grows to despise them. In one harrowing scene, the stoned brother-in-law forces him into an unspecified act with his sister. This mysterious deed, which is assumed to have been incestuous, hangs over the rest of the film like a veil. The movie itself plays like a half-remembered, vaguely sexualized opium dream.
We then flash forward to the Westernized 1920s. China is in the midst of its own jazz age, and the clothes and decor of the richest citizens now more closely resemble Chicago from the same period. The adult Zhongliang works for a crime lord in Shanghai, having become a high-class gigolo who helps rob unsuspecting women of their valuables.
After his brother-in-law loses his faculties to what may have been an opium overdose, Zhongliang is sent back to the Pang household with orders to seduce the heir to their riches, the sister Ruyi (a luminous Gong Li). Zhongliang, of course, knows Ruyi from their childhood ... though, as we will come to see, this doesn't mean that he won't be able to proceed with his duties.
That's some plot (it sure ain't Batman kicking people for two hours), and I haven't even really begun to scratch the surface of the various manipulations that take place during the film. Things are a tad difficult to follow, not because there's so much going on (believe me, I consider that a blessing), but because I don't have a working knowledge of the Chinese social strata of the 1920s.
Ruyi is wholeheartedly mistreated by most of the men in the film, but this only forces you to realize her own frustrations. As the new head of the household, she is questioned at every turn. One unpopular decision she makes stems from what has to be my favorite line of dialogue in any movie I've seen this year -- "The concubines are all clamoring for their monthly stipend." Now that's what I call a problem!
The visuals are magnificent throughout, formally constructed but not labored over to the point of tedium as they are in something like "The Last Emperor." There's more life to Chen Kaige's images than you'll find in Bertolucci, more of a sense of a world in constant turmoil beyond the opulent Pang compound. The characters are also nicely written, with Zhongliang growing so dark-hearted you can't wait for him to get his comeuppance. The movie is full of surprises, and that eventual comeuppance is not quite the one you would expect.
Fans of "Farewell My Concubine" (frankly, that one bored me) should be very pleased with "Temptress Moon." This is dense, dramatic, thoughtful storytelling. If focusing on an entire episode of "The Simpsons" leaves you gasping for air, you might want to stay at home. Anyone else should come in the right state of mind and volunteer to be transfixed.
"Temptress Moon" relates the perils of too much opium, too much power, and too much money. There is no nudity, but several intense (and sometimes violent) sexual encounters nix this one for the kiddies. In Chinese with English subtitles. Rated R. 120 minutes.
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