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.

[2] 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.

Zhongliang, a thirteen-year-old boy, arrives at the Pang estate to live with his sister Xiuyi and her husband Zhengda, a heavy opium user and the son of the family head.

Ruyi, daughter of the head of the family, has been raised as an opium addict from birth and is consequently unable to be married off; she is running happily through the estate when Zhongliang arrives.

Ten years later, Zhongliang has become a gigolo who seduces rich, married women for his boss Biggie in order to blackmail them.

His partners in crime storm the room, "capture" the couple by pulling black bags over their heads, and pretend to murder Zhongliang.

Zhongliang has been seeing one particular target, "the woman of Zephyr Lane", for weeks, and appears to have developed feelings for her; he lies to Biggie, telling him that her husband is out of town, and thus they cannot proceed with the blackmail against her.

Struck with remorse, Zhongliang attempts to stop Ruyi from taking the poison, but he arrives too late; the next morning, as he prepares to board a ship to leave, he is gunned down at the dock.

[4] Other problems arose as well, notably the firing of the original Ruyi, the Taiwanese actress Wang Ching-ying, about halfway through the shoot.

[5][6] Roger Ebert, in a typical review, noted "Temptress Moon is a hard movie to follow--so hard, that at some point you may be tempted to abandon the effort and simply enjoy the elegant visuals..."[7] The New York Times also praised the film's sumptuous production values, but critic Stephen Holden also found the film to lack emotional weight, arguing that Temptress Moon ultimately "has the feel of a chic, kink-ornamented romantic pageant, unfolding at a distance.

[9] Temptress Moon was released on Region 1 DVD in the United States and Canada on July 2, 2002, by Miramax Films through Buena Vista Home Video label.