Temptress Moon

Temptress Moon is a 1996 Chinese film directed by Chen Kaige. It was jointly produced by the Shanghai Film Studio and the Taipeibased 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

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 13yearold 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 brotherinlaw who forces him to kiss his own sister while intoxicated by the effects of opium. In revenge Zhongliang poisons his brotherinlaws opium pipe and flees. Chen Kaige, however, deliberately leaves the audience in the dark, making Zhongliangs 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.Years later, Zhongliang has become a handsome gigolo who seduces rich, married women for his triad Boss in order to blackmail them. The triads modus operandi usually involves Zhongliang paying a visit to the woman in her room a secret rendezvous whereupon he would usually send a clear signal to his cohorts by opening the curtains of the rooms window. His partners in crime would then storm the room and stage a semimock stickup, capturing the illicit couple unawares by placing a black mask over their faces, similar to those worn by condemned criminals at the hangmans noose Zhongliang would obviously be unharmed in the process. The victim would then be threatened with exposure of the licentious affair or alternatively pay a hefty sum to keep the matter under wraps, with the victim being made to believe that Zhongliang has been swiftly murdered by the thugs. In this aspect, Zhongliang succeeded beyond his triads wildest dreams, and his boss, Biggie Xie Tian dotes on him like his own son. ........

Source: Wikipedia