Lust, Caution

In Japanese-occupied Shanghai, a group of students plan to assassinate Mr Yee, a collaborationist intelligence chief. Wong Chia Chi assumes the identity of a married woman to get close to him, and the relationship escapes both of them. It comes from Eileen Chang's 1979 novella. Ang Lee won the Golden Lion at Venice with it, his second after Brokeback Mountain. The MPAA gave it NC-17 for its sexual content. Lee refused to cut for an R and received a Freedom of Expression Award at ShoWest. Roughly thirty minutes were removed from the Chinese version, including two intimate scenes between Wong and a student, three with Mr Yee, footage of dead refugees, and altered dialogue. In that version Wong's warning to her target became a shared escape rather than an act of individual betrayal, which changes the moral outcome of the film. Tang Wei became a star and paid for it: the Chinese government reportedly imposed a two-year professional ban, her endorsements were cancelled and her image pulled from advertising. The NC-17 kept it to a maximum of 143 theatres, and it still grossed 67.1 million dollars worldwide on a 15 million budget, the highest-grossing NC-17 film ever. Who it is for: viewers who like period espionage drama and Ang Lee's patience. Who it is not for: anyone troubled by the length and violence of the sex scenes. The film runs 157 minutes and those sections are not brief.