Chen Kaige's Temptress Moon, in competition at Cannes, will not see a release in its home country, China. The film, shot in Suzhou and Shanghai and produced by Hong Kong-based Tomson Films, has disappeared into the same kind of bureaucratic limbo as Zhang Yimou's To Live two years ago.
"It will not be released in China," confirmed Chen. "It hasn't been banned - it just won't be released."
The film is currently - possibly permanently - caught up in a bureaucratic limbo that may prevent it officially reaching the eyes of China's censors, thus preventing its release in the country. But Chen said that China's Film Bureau will not raise any protests about the film being shown at international film festivals. "It's OK for it to be released abroad," he said.
The Film Bureau rarely gives a reason for a ban, let alone a reason for permanently stalling a film.
Chen thinks his portayal of a druggy early-20th century China is what upset the authorities.
"I don't know why," he said.
"I think they were unhappy with the characters and the opium smoking."
The Film Bureau has recently undergone a shake-up at the top. "It's not the old men now. They have all gone," said Chen. "It's a younger group of people now. But they seem to be just as conservative as the older group."
As was the case with To Live, however, interested Chinese viewers will have no trouble catching Temptress Moon on pirate videocassette.
Chen's The Yellow Earth, Life On A String, and - briefly - Farewell My Concubine all had problems with China's bureacracy over their content.
Chen's next film will be a light tragi-comedy with a contemporary theme - another touchy subject with the Film Bureau.
Richard James Havis
