Lust, Caution (2007)

During World War II era, a young woman, Wang Jiazhi, gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee.

Director:

Ang Lee

Writers:

Eileen Chang (story), James Schamus (screenplay)

Stars:

Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Wei Tang, Joan Chen

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 28 wins & 53 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung	...	Mr. Yee (as Tony Chiu Wai Leung)
Wei Tang	...	Wong Chia Chi / Mrs. Mak
Joan Chen	...	Mrs. Yee
Leehom Wang	...	Kuang Yu Min
Tsung-Hua To	...	Old Wu
Zhi-Ying Zhu	...	Lai Shu Jin (as Chih-ying Chu)
Ying-Hsuan Kao	...	Huang Lei
Lawrence Ko	...	Liang Jun Sheng (as Ko Yu-Luen)
Johnson Yuen	...	Auyang Ling Wen / Mr. Mak
Kar Lok Chin	...	Tsao
Yan Su	...	Mrs. Ma
Saifei He	...	Mrs. Hsiao
Ruhui Song	...	Wang's Aunt
Hui-Ling Wang	...	Mrs. Liao
Jie Liu	...	Mrs. Leung

Storyline

Frustrated in his attempts to assassinate Yee, who is an important official in Japanese-ruled Shanghai, Old Wu, who has lost his wife and two sons as well as two women who had attempted to seduce Yee, now recruits Kuang, Mai Tai Tai, and their troupe of drama students from Hong Kong University in yet another attempt to do away with Yee. Mai Tai Tai is chosen to befriend Yee, which she does by posing as the wife of Mak, befriending Yee's wife and her female friends, and then eventually befriending Yee himself. Even though both get together, they do end up going separate ways, only to meet again four years later. This time Mai is all set to entrap Yee at Chandni Chowk Jewellers which is owned by an East Indian man named Khalid Saiduddin. The question does remain: Will she and her troupe succeed?

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Plot Keywords:

female pubic hair | male pubic hair | sex scene | virginity | erotica | 

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Taglines:

To kill the enemy, she would have to capture his heart....and break her own.

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Genres:

Drama | History | Romance | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated NC-17 for some explicit sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Focus Features [United States] Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA China Taiwan

Language:

Mandarin Japanese English Shanghainese Hindi Cantonese

Release Date:

26 October 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lust, Caution

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$63,918, 30 September 2007

Gross USA:

$4,604,982

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$67,091,915

Company Credits

Production Co:

Haishang Films, Focus Features, River Road Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

157 min 148 min (edited)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The song Wang Jiazhi sings to Mr Yee is entitled "A Singing Girl at the Edge of the World," and it was the theme song of a popular film, Street Angel (1937), or "Malu Tianshi," released four years before the events in this film take place. The song is still considered an evergreen standard in Chinese pop music and has been covered by many other artists since.

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Goofs

The London Taxi seen is the FX4 Fairway which wasn't introduced until 1959.

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Quotes

Mr. Yee: The people I associate with are those with high reputations.

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Connections

References Suspicion (1941)

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Soundtracks

Dinner Waltz
Performed by Traffic Quintet (as Traffic String Quintet), Dominique Lemonnier, Philippe Noharet, Raphaël Perraud, Anne Villette, Estelle Vilotte
Composed by Alexandre Desplat

User Reviews

My view

Many people already wrote the plots of "Lust, Caution". I don't repeat again, I just have a few words here...

I have read many reviews from the professional film critics. Some are extremely insulting, and those people didn't understand the film at all. I felt sorry for Ang Lee and all people who worked hard for the film.

"Lust, Caution" is a pure Chinese drama with the bloody China-Japan war and the Chinese cultural context of 1940s: slow pace, old Shanghai, mahjong, the traditional song, hatred, love, loneliness, and the souls of students and traitors.

Do not forget the cultural differences: Western people play the card games; Chinese people play the mahjong games. I don't know either, I always see the body languages of the players.

I personally dislike the raw sexual scenes, however, the film is still a masterpiece!