Lust, Caution
I confess it is very difficult to comment on this movie. Was it well crafted? Indeed; Ang Lee is a consummate perfectionist and always seems to have a true love affair with his filmic subjects. Was the story interesting? Yes, for the most part – a group of young politically fervent theatre folk decide to eliminate a traitor, vigilante-style, through an elaborate deception. This requires our lead, Wei Tang, to pretend to be a rich married woman and embark on an affair with the traitor (Tony Leung Chiu Wai)) and this will gain the assassins access to him somehow. This put us in the audience in the awkward position of waiting for the infamous NC-17 scenes to begin while also wanting to have more plot laid out for us to get some understanding of the plan. After it does begin, it seems to leave most of the plot behind.
Meanwhile, she is in a very uncomfortable situation with her intense, cruel but adoring lover, and that appears to be Lust, Caution’s primary focus. I don’t feel we as the audience can get into her head with empathy so much as watch her crawl inside her own head, while we watch, wincing, from the outside. It seems an unnecessary length to go to eliminate a political figure, and the repercussions are great for Tang’s character.
Also, I don’t mean to come off all prudish, but why show each liaison in such lengthy and excruciating detail? Not to give too much away, but they aren’t, um, very sweet. In previous films, Lee has made the environment a character, or another intangible. Here, the sex itself is the lead character.
Were the infamous NC-17 sex scenes really very explicit? Yes, they were; I can appreciate how some people might have wondered if it was actual coitus on screen (for some unambiguous actual coitus, see Shortbus). However, unlike Shortbus, I am not sure how any sex scene after the very important first one is necessary to belabor. I don’t mean the first one which is under the blankets, awkward, and not featuring Leung. If you see this movie, you will know which one I mean. The scene in question vitally establishes the dynamic between Tang and Leung and what kind of person Leung really is. Then the endless repeats until Tang’s great showdown with her superior, which tells us what we suspect from watching, but what we didn’t necessarily need to watch. I’m not uncomfortable with sex scenes, but I did want the film to take me into the troupe’s world in more than this one arena of their plan. Tang is left in the dark as to their progress as are we, but it hovered nearish the edge of exploitation of her as a character and as an actress to turn me off a little.
Leung deftly handles his character, one who has many faces, and I applaud him and Tang for their very believable and intense performances. All I can think about, after, is how much I wished the movie had had more of their sparkling dialogue and tension and less of Tang’s direct misery.
MPAA Rating NC-17 – explicit sexuality
Release date 10/5/07
Time in minutes 157
Director Ang Lee
Studio Focus Features
