Lust, Caution

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Movie: Lust, Caution
Chinese: Se, jie
Director: Ang Lee
Writer: Eileen Chang
Producer: William Kong, Ang Lee
Cinematographer: Rodrigo Prieto
Release Date: August 30, 2007
Runtime: 157 min
Language: Mandarin, Japanese
Country: Taiwan, China

Plot

1942 Japanese' occupied Shanghai. A group of wealthy women, wives of officials in the collaborationist government, play mahjong and gossip, while outside their villa plainclothes security man pace in the cold. One young woman, a friend of Mrs. Yee, the hostess, begs her apologies, and leaves the game early for an appointment. She makes her way to seedy cafe, pick up the phone, and dials. At the other end of the line a young man picks up. They chatter idly for a moment. Hanging up, he turns to the group of men gathered around him: "It's now." They holster their guns, hide small axes in their sleeves, and move out. In the cafe, the young woman pays her bill and leaves. She hails a tricycle cab on the busy street, and rides away¡K.toward a destiny that, in the single moment, will weave together the threads of passion, truth betrayal, violence, and sacrifice that have led her to this final, fateful winter evening of her life.

We go back two years. Our heroine, Wong Chia Chi, is feeling the Japanese advance with her fellow students. In Hong Kong. With a friend, the shy Wong joins a theater troupe headed by the handsome, charismatic Kuong, who soon tires of putting on the patriotic shows and decides it's time for action. As luck would have it, an old friend of his now works for Yee, a sinister figure in the Japanese collaborationist government temporarily organizing in Hong Kong. The student theater troupe decides to plots Yee¡¦s assassination, and infiltrates his household by selecting Wong to pretend to be a wealthy, bored housewife, available for an affair. At first Yee takes no interested in her, but soon she is playing the part so well, he begins to woo her. But when Yee is called back to Shanghai, the students' plot ends in the horrific, bungled murder, and Wong and the other plot ends in the horrific, bungled murder, and Wong and the others break up.

Back to Shanghai, Wong, half-starved, is living with her aunt, when Kuong, now and undercover agent still battling the Japanese-controlled regime, spots her. He invites her to rejoin the team, and to renew her approach to Yee, now the head of regime¡¦s secret service. She agrees, and so begins her relationship with seductive Yee. As the hours of Yee death comes near, Wong is drawn into more and more into her role as his lover, and soon the gap between reality and fiction begins to dangerously, tragically blur ...

Cast

Starring

Tony Leung Chiu Wai - Mr. Yee
Wei Tang - Wang Jiazhi

Supporting Cast

Joan Chen - Mrs. Yee
Lee-Hom Wang - Kuang Yu Min
Chung Hua Tou - Old Wu
Chih-ying Chu - Lai Shu Jin
Ying-hsien Kao - Huang Lei
Yue-Lin Ko - Liang Jun Sheng
Johnson Yuen - Auyang Ling Wen / Mr. Mak
Kar Lok Chin - Tsao
Su Yan - Ma Tai Tai
Caifei He - Hsiao Tai Tai
Ruhui Song - Wang's Aunt
Anupam Kher - Jewelry Shop Manager
Liu Jie - Leung Tai Tai

Trailer (Japanese Version)

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Comments

Comment #1
Nalyah Says:
Jun 16 2009 12:28 pm

It was a good and strange movie at the same time. The main characters were covered with sadness and constantly looking for the meaning in their life. And even if they found their partners they were either prevented from being with them or they chose not to be with them. How sadder it can get? …