China has been through many dramatic changes in the past one hundred and fifty years, and I enjoy historical movies about its past. Temptress Moon falls into that category, is well-directed and acted, but somehow leaves me cold.
Most of it takes place within the confines of a wealthy family, beginning in 1911, the year that "the last emperor" was forced to abdicate and China became a republic. However, if anything it seems to be an anti-opium movie.
Opium is the direct cause of tragedies that bring down the main characters, aided by their own immoral choices.
The family adult son is married to a young woman with a 13 year old brother, Zhongliang, who comes to live with them. However, his brother in law treats him as a servant to fill his opium pipe, not a member of the family. And, for reasons I couldn't discern, while high on opium, forces him to have sex with his own sister. Apparently it's a "destroy innocence because I have the power to do so" thing. In revenge, Zhongliang puts arsenic into his pipe, leaving him a mental zombie, and runs away to Shanghai where he falls in with a criminal gang.
The family's father introduced his daughter Ruyi to opium when she was still a little girl, leading the family of the boy she was to marry (an arranged marriage -- not yet consummated -- while both were still children) to break off the engagement, for which we can't blame them.
Ten years later, the old man is dead. Because his son is mentally gone, Ruyi is made head of the family but a distant male cousin -- Duanwu -- is called in to help the weak woman. However, the elders don't realize that he's in love with her and she totally controls him.
Back in Shanghai, Zhongliang seduces wealthy married women to set them up to be blackmailed by a gang leader. He is sent back to Ruyi to bring her to Shanghai so the gang leader can get hold of her family wealth. It's not clear what's planned (she's not married after all), but certainly it won't be healthy for her or for the family wealth.
Of course Zhongliang and Ruyi start to fall in love, while Duanwu looks on, satisfied to be with Ruyi. Zhongliang is horrified that can even feel love, let alone for the sister of the man who bullied him when he was young. He returns to Shanghai without her. But determined to prove to his boss that he's still obedient, he sets up a meeting with a woman he's already been sleeping with, but cared too much about to let the gang blackmail her.
The boss understands he is losing Zhongliang's loyalty to Ruyi, so he has another man bring her and Duanwu to Shanghai so she can witness Zhongliang betray the other woman.
Ruyi still loves Zhongliang but is also repulsed as planned by the boss. But the big city corrupts Duanwu. He is so shocked by the omnipresence of the prostitutes there that he reformulates his own philosophy, deciding men and women are at war, and he doesn't want to lose - so he rapes Ruyi in Shanghai. Still in love with her, Zhongliang follows Ruyi.
Back home, yet another man appears in this complicated story -- Ruyi's former fiance. He's now grown up too and decided to go see her for himself. Incredibly, he decides to marry her, and she's happy for this outcome.
However, two men have earlier claims on her, and one of them destroys her chances for happiness.
Zhongliang is inevitably killed by the crime boss he's betrayed, and Duanwu winds up in charge of the family.
At the end, the director repeats a shot of the three of them together as children, looking at the camera, as though blaming the audience for what happens to them as adults.
Sorry, but I don't feel personally to blame for any of it. Perhaps it's more meaningful to Chinese who feel the social problems of their past.
Most of it takes place within the confines of a wealthy family, beginning in 1911, the year that "the last emperor" was forced to abdicate and China became a republic. However, if anything it seems to be an anti-opium movie.
Opium is the direct cause of tragedies that bring down the main characters, aided by their own immoral choices.
The family adult son is married to a young woman with a 13 year old brother, Zhongliang, who comes to live with them. However, his brother in law treats him as a servant to fill his opium pipe, not a member of the family. And, for reasons I couldn't discern, while high on opium, forces him to have sex with his own sister. Apparently it's a "destroy innocence because I have the power to do so" thing. In revenge, Zhongliang puts arsenic into his pipe, leaving him a mental zombie, and runs away to Shanghai where he falls in with a criminal gang.
The family's father introduced his daughter Ruyi to opium when she was still a little girl, leading the family of the boy she was to marry (an arranged marriage -- not yet consummated -- while both were still children) to break off the engagement, for which we can't blame them.
Ten years later, the old man is dead. Because his son is mentally gone, Ruyi is made head of the family but a distant male cousin -- Duanwu -- is called in to help the weak woman. However, the elders don't realize that he's in love with her and she totally controls him.
Back in Shanghai, Zhongliang seduces wealthy married women to set them up to be blackmailed by a gang leader. He is sent back to Ruyi to bring her to Shanghai so the gang leader can get hold of her family wealth. It's not clear what's planned (she's not married after all), but certainly it won't be healthy for her or for the family wealth.
Of course Zhongliang and Ruyi start to fall in love, while Duanwu looks on, satisfied to be with Ruyi. Zhongliang is horrified that can even feel love, let alone for the sister of the man who bullied him when he was young. He returns to Shanghai without her. But determined to prove to his boss that he's still obedient, he sets up a meeting with a woman he's already been sleeping with, but cared too much about to let the gang blackmail her.
The boss understands he is losing Zhongliang's loyalty to Ruyi, so he has another man bring her and Duanwu to Shanghai so she can witness Zhongliang betray the other woman.
Ruyi still loves Zhongliang but is also repulsed as planned by the boss. But the big city corrupts Duanwu. He is so shocked by the omnipresence of the prostitutes there that he reformulates his own philosophy, deciding men and women are at war, and he doesn't want to lose - so he rapes Ruyi in Shanghai. Still in love with her, Zhongliang follows Ruyi.
Back home, yet another man appears in this complicated story -- Ruyi's former fiance. He's now grown up too and decided to go see her for himself. Incredibly, he decides to marry her, and she's happy for this outcome.
However, two men have earlier claims on her, and one of them destroys her chances for happiness.
Zhongliang is inevitably killed by the crime boss he's betrayed, and Duanwu winds up in charge of the family.
At the end, the director repeats a shot of the three of them together as children, looking at the camera, as though blaming the audience for what happens to them as adults.
Sorry, but I don't feel personally to blame for any of it. Perhaps it's more meaningful to Chinese who feel the social problems of their past.
Source...