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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 3 January 2008

Tang Wei with Tony Leung in Ang Lee's espionage tale, Lust, Caution

Secrets and spies in Ang Lee’s thriller

LUST, CAUTION
Directed by Ang Lee
Certificate 18

FROM the first frame we are catapulted into the highly charged atmosphere of 1942 Shanghai, a city occupied by the Japanese and crawling with spies.
Four bored and wealthy women are playing their weekly game of majong, confident in their roles as privileged wives of the inner circle controlling the province – and collaborating with the enemy.
Ang Lee deftly creates the stifling atmosphere of a city that is a prison to all within it, even for those living the high life of power and luxury.
The story unfolds as naive young student Wong Chi (Tang Wei) is brought into the group by Mrs Yee (Joan Chen), wife of the most powerful figure in the puppet government (Tony Leung, with the looks and charisma of an oriental Tommy Lee Jones).
But Wong has a hidden agenda: she has been persuaded to infiltrate the cosy meetings to seduce the top man, win his trust – and set him up for assassination.
She has been enlisted into a radical group of students led by firebrand fellow student Kuang Min (Wang Leeham) for the lethal mission.
But now Mr Yee has become chief of the feared secret police, surrounded by bodyguards and protected round the clock.
No easy target here, and the doll-like seductress needs all her wiles to win him over.
The plot unravels when she falls for her potential victim, torn between her head and her heart as the physical chemistry catches fire between them.
Mr Yee likes his sex rough, and we’re talking lust here in scenes which rewrite the Kama Sutra and then some.
Up to now he has been “the perfect gentleman”, so it all comes as a bit of a shock to us – and even more to the girl herself, as he straps her wrists behind her back and flings her on to the bed before having his wicked way with her.
Ang Lee directs a sensual feast for discerning audiences with his usual masterly authority, building the tension with an underlying foreboding and menace.
At 2 hrs 38 minutes it’s a long road.
But be patient. Every frame is a gem.

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