SansPretense

The movie Lust, Caution or Se, jie in Mandarin, carries an NC-17 rating for a reason, so it’s not for the prudish. The director of Brokeback Mountain (which I have not seen), Ang Lee, brings us this story of a young Chinese girl named Wong during the Japanese occupation of China taking place around the years leading up to 1942. She gets involved with an acting troupe led by Kuang, who yearns to make a difference in the War. The troupe concocts a scheme to infiltrate the house of Mr. Yee, a powerful Chinese figure who collaborates with the Japanese. They send in Wong, disguised as a Mrs. Mak, to charm the Mr. Yee into trusting her, and eventually into an affair with the eventual intention of setting him up to be assasinated. The violent lust that is unleashed by the pair on the screen is breathtaking and quite magnificent. The emotional battle that ensues in Wong as she sees a softer side of Yee is foreshadowed in the beginning of the movie when her friend asks what he is like after a brief first meeting in the reply: “Not what I expected.” As Wong realizes that Yee is a tormented man because of his job, she keeps getting closer and closer emotionally, as does he. Time and Fate catches up to them, and Wong must decide in the end whether to go through with the betrayal, or else risk her life and the life of her friends.

This is a movie I believe one must watch several times to take it all in. The symbolism and motifs in the movie are wonderful, and the cinematography was beautiful. From lipstick marks on glasses to the use of light and shadows in many scenes, to the combined violence and sensualness filled scenes of pure lust turning to emotional passion, this movie gets a ranking of 5/5 stars.