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 27 wins & 51 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:

The Trap is Set.

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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, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$4,602,512, 20 January 2008

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

Zhi-Ying Zhu, who played Lai Shu Jin, was the runner-up for the role of Wong Chia Chi / Mak Tai Tai, later taken by Wei Tang.

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Goofs

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

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Connections

References Destry Rides Again (1939)

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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

Words of Caution about 'Lust'

Too long, too slow, too self-indulgent, and too brutal in its graphic sex scenes, Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution" is a film not to be missed.

Whatever misgivings there may be about it, this festival-winning film is a mesmerizing, rich experience. After 2 1/2 hours of being bombarded with a World War II love-and-hate story that's both exciting and dragging, chances are you will be still pinned to your seat, anxious to find out how it ends.

The "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Brokeback Mountain" director has turned his attention to war-threatened Hong Kong in 1938 and Japanese-occupied Shanghai in 1942 (complete with a "safe Japanese zone"), seen through the eyes of a group of young Chinese resistance fighters.

Based on the late Chinese-American writer Eileen Chang's short story of the same name, the focus of "Se, jie" is the relationship between Mr. Yee, head of the ruthless Japanese-collaborator security forces (played by Tony Leung, leading man of some 80 films) and a young actress with the resistance, played by Wei Tang, in her very first film role.

They make a strange pair, both in the roles and as actors. Of the story - a cat-and-mouse game between the seductress/underground agent and the Japanese puppet/lord of life and death among the occupied - the less said the better in order to enjoy the movie. As actors, it's a veteran facing a new challenge and a novice who shows great skill and assurance.

Leung has always been a brooding, symphathetic, worn-but-handsome presence, especially in his collaborations with director Wong Kai War. Here, for the first time, he plays not just a heavy, an ugly character, but a scary, unhappy, murderous man, literally a dark figure, lurking in the shadows. It's a great performance, fully realizing both aspects of the character: the monster and the man.

Lee's love for the cinema classics is shown both in his use of excerpts from Hollywood greats (as the young actress frequents movie theaters) and in his creation of memorable images. This is a director with a painterly sensibility and the ability to transform objects into instantly memorable pictures. Never will you see mahjong again without recalling "Lust, Caution." Few of Lee's favorite classics can match the simple effectiveness of his final image here, of a sheet with slight depressions left by what rested on it shortly before: white on white, and yet meaningful and affecting.

Leung and Tang fairly monopolize the screen, but the rest of the large cast is outstanding, led by San Franciscan Joan Chang as Yee's wife, and the vivid individual characters in the resistance, including the American-born Chinese pop star Leehom Wang.