Ang Lee’s recent drama, “Lust, Caution,” exemplifies the tragedy of human relationships during times of conflict. While using his characteristic attention to detail—the clicking of mahjong tiles, the removal of an earring—Lee portrays a world where such relationships are disastrously determined and influenced by violence and ambition.
The film examines the resistance movement in World War II China through the passionate yet amateur attempts of a theater group to assassinate a Japanese collaborator, the cold and systematic Mr. Yee (played by Tony Leung Chiu Wai). Innocent and beautiful Wong Chia Chi (Wei Tang) pretends to be “Mrs. Mak,” the wife of a pro-regime businessman, and worms her way into Yee’s household by first befriending Mrs. Yee and eventually gaining the sexual attention of Yee himself.
The most disturbing aspect of the film is the extent to which Wong’s mind and body is ruthlessly used, both by the resistance movement and Mr. Yee. Kuang Yu Min (Lee-Hom Wang), the patriotic leader of the theatre group, casts Wong in her role as Mrs. Mak and consistently pushes her further and further: to gain access to Yee’s household, to draw the officer into an affair and, eventually, to kill him. Kuang, who genuinely has affection for Wong, monstrously sacrifices her to the resistance movement with complete knowledge of how inherently corrupting and destructive her transformation is.
While the wicked “Lust, Caution” stays true to a time and place where brutality was commonplace, Lee’s method of exploring that wickedness is especially powerful and difficult to stomach. The film’s explicit sex scenes, which earned it an NC-17 rating, were drawn out and sometimes violent. They serve to show, undoubtedly, how much Wong is exploited for the movement. To prepare for her affair with Yee, Wong is forced to gain “experience” with another theater group member. Her first sexual encounter with Yee is inherently sadistic.
And yet, even for a film called “Lust, Caution,” the sexuality becomes distracting as Wong becomes more and more involved with Yee. Indeed, some call the movie a romance, but any sweetness in Wong and Yee’s interactions is dramatically overshadowed by the explicitness of their relationship. At some points, Lee shows Yee staring at a lipstick mark Wong leaves on a glass or hovering over her while she plays mahjong with his wife. Such brief moments speak volumes about the two characters’ attraction to each other without overwhelming the viewer the way the extended love making scenes do.
At the end it becomes clear that Wong
has developed feelings for Yee, but it is never clear why. Yee, played coolly by Wai, never lets his guard down and remains decidedly uptight when not in the bedroom. Wong is a tortured young actress. The two characters are so different and their connection so physical that when Wong romantically sings for Yee at a late point in the movie, it almost comes out of the blue.
“Lust, Caution” it seems, is a depiction of the way war, and the evil and violence it brings, seeps into even the most personal aspects of life. While cruelly effective in that respect, Lee’s beautiful subtlety, though present, unfortunately ends up outshined by the film’s harshness. Despite talented acting, a wonderful score and superb cinematography, Lee seems to have tried too hard and overshot his mark.
