Event Archive

Sunday, 16th November 1:45pm - Temptress Moon with guest speaker Anna Chen

Temptress Moon provided the Brighton audience with the festival’s first portrayal of Shanghai – the featured cinecity location for this year. Our guest speaker, Anna Chen introduced the film and highlighted the emphasis on the personal psychologies of the three main characters, in direct contrast to the ‘social realist’ films that came before the fifth generation of filmmakers. Some biographical information on Chen Kaige - in particular Kaige’s denouncing of his filmmaker father (who subsequently never made another film) - helped to shed light on some of the themes of betrayal and loss that pervades many of Chen Kaige’s films.

Circus Circus held the post-film discussion, and members were curious as to why the film was still banned in China. The excessive nature of the sexualities portrayed in the film - incest and a male version of a honey-trap racket - was felt to be more problematic than the actual graphic depiction of sex. The fact that the ban was still in effect put Chen Kaige’s remarks about the difficulties in making films for distinct national audiences into stark relief.

The sense of time and place within the film - specifically the scenes set in Shanghai - came in for some extended debate. Contemporaneous geo-political upheavals were discussed, with particular reference to Leslie Cheung’s speech to Gong Li about all the changes taking place within Shanghai. Some members felt that the film didn’t evoke the necessary radical tensions taking place in Shanghai at the time.

Christopher Doyle’s cinematography was applauded for its fluidity and glorious richness. More than one audience member admitted to becoming slightly lost in terms of the narrative but felt that the film could be enjoyed at the level of spectacle. Particular attention was given to Doyle’s technique of setting up ranges of fixed focal lengths within shots - allowing characters to wash in and out of focus.

Film Notes

BIFS is screening Temptress Moon by acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige of Farewell my Concubine fame as part of Brighton’s Cinecity Film Festival’s special programme exploring the cinecity of Shanghai.

Most known for his disturbing but beautiful Farewell, My Concubine, Chen Kaige reveals his fascination with the turbulent past of China in Temptress Moon too. His attempt to negotiate the history of his land often results in official bans and though nominated for the Golden Palm this film too was banned in China. Set in 1920s Shanghai, the film depicts the opulent and opium-filled world of the wealthy and the crooked with the beautiful Gong-Li in the role of the young head of a rich family seduced by a trickster and their doomed love.

Singer, composer and actor, Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing who committed suicide in 2003, plays the role of the con man with great élan and seductive insolence, once again reminding us what a great loss his death is for the world of cinema. While Temptress Moon has also been negatively criticised for being an indulgent film, its cinematography, the feel and look of each frame has received high praise. Christopher Doyle’s camera work is superb creating a highly sensuous and delirious atmosphere to bring out the decadent beauty of Shanghai and its characters.