Lust, Caution (色, 戒/Se, Jie) is a 2007 Chinese film based on a short story by Eileen Chang. It stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Tang Wei, and Wang Lee Hom. The summary is as follows (taken from here):
Spanning the late '30s and early '40s, the movie introduces us to Hong Kong teen Wong Chia Chi, a shy college freshman who finds her calling in a drama society devoted to patriotic plays. But the troupe's leader, Kuang Yu Min, isn't just a theater maven -- he's a revolutionary as well, and he's devoted to carrying out a bold plan to assassinate top Japanese collaborator Mr. Yee. Each student has an important role to play, and Wong puts herself in a dangerous position as Mrs. Mak; she befriends Mr. Yee's wife, and slowly gains trust before tempting him into an affair. While at first the plan goes exactly as scripted, things suddenly take a deadly turn and Wong is emigrated from Hong Kong. Later, in 1941, the occupation shows no signs of ceasing and Wong is simply drifting through her days in Shanghai. Much to her surprise, the former actress finds Kuang requesting that she resume the role of Mrs. Mak. Now, as Wong again gains intimate access to her dangerous prey, she must struggle with her own identity in order to pull off the performance of a lifetime.
I always planned on watching this and I finally got to it... the reason why I decided to do this in the middle of doing homework is currently unknown, but I have my suspicions. One of the first things I heard was in my Chinese class when it first came out and how much "thrusting" it contained. Since they only spoke of that part, I had no interest in it but after I looked it up, mainly because Wang Lee Hom's in it, I decided the plot was pretty intriguing and there was a 84% chance that I would end up liking it. So when I watched it, I expecting the thrusting, but I didn't expect to see how explicit it was, especially over reading articles on Hindu women. However, the acting was all superb and after the 2 plus hours of watching all the character interaction, I came to the conclusion that it was well-written and the actors and actresses all played their parts well. Of course, there were moments where I thought Wang Chia Chi was acting rather suspiciously but I just decided it was because she was female and females are usually ruled by their emotions; a fact that annoys me greatly. Especially since [spoiler] when it came time for Mr. Yee to sign the execution papers, he didn't really hesitate even though he was in pain afterwards whereas she hesitated, saved his life, and was still in pain. I also thought the atmosphere of what could have been there between Wang and Kuang was sort of never really there, but was - it never actually went anywhere. Then again, I suppose that when choosing between assassinating a 'traitor' by seducing him as opposed to finding romance honestly, there are certain sacrifices that have got to be made for the "greater good".
It was realistic and I liked that. However, you'd think that considering all the explicit sex scenes that made it NC-17 in the States, it would actually show the [spoiler] execution itself besides it just being implied.
I downloaded the torrent and couldn't find it at my usual streaming video sites.
Photo taken from here.
