Espionage and Eroticism in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution

Lust, Caution came out in the monumental film year of 2007; There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, Zodiac, Juno, The Assassination of Jesse James, Michael Clayton, Ratatouille, and many more. But Ang Lee’s follow up to the Oscar winning Brokeback Mountain went underlooked, getting polite, yet not overly enthusiastic reviews and received zero Oscar nominations. However, I’d put it forth as one of the great films of 2007 and is more than deserving of the growing appreciation it’s received over the years; an intoxicating masterpiece of espionage and eroticism. 

Lust, Caution has an unusual structure in how the screenplay, adapting Elieen Chang’s 1979 novella of the same name, is deliberately split into two halves. In 1938, Wong Chai Chi (Tang Wei) is forced to leave her home, Shanghai, and attend university in Hong Kong, as a result of the war between China and Japan. There, she joins a patriotic theater troop led by Kuang Yumin (Wang Leehom). In response to the war, the troop devises a plan to assassinate Mr. Yee (Tony Leung), a secret agent and recruiter for a puppet government controlled by Japan. 

The Hong Kong based first half operates in the language of a more traditional, nevertheless engaging, espionage thriller. Through a connection, the troop is able to infiltrate Yee’s orbit, which includes his wife Mrs. Yee (Joan Chen), and Chai Chi takes the role of Mrs. Mak, the wife of a trade company owner. The film cleverly keeps Yee on the fringes, rarely having him speak more than a few words, imbuing him with a scent of danger and mystery. He’s even shown to have what seems to be a distanced relationship with Mrs. Yee, which allows Chai Chi to catch the eye of Mr. Yee with her beauty and allure. 

The dynamic between Yee and Chai Chi is seeded here. In classic fashion, she’s a facade that Yee is falling for. And yet, despite this obvious attraction,Yee is also to remain a blank slate; a face where we cannot see behind the eyes. Both Tang Wei and Tony Leung are brilliant in their roles and the performances evolve deeper in the second half. Add at least one applicable category.

It’s 1942 and the Yee’s have moved back to Shanghai. Kuang, now an agent with Kuomintang, recruits Chai Chi once again in a plan to assassinate Yee, having her reassume the role of Mrs. Mak; ultimately this leads to a sexual relationship between the two, although it hardly starts in a consensual matter, as he effectively rapes her in their first sexual encounter. 

If Lust, Caution is known for anything, it’s known for the graphic sex scenes between Yee and Chai Chi; so much so, the film earned an NC-17 rating. And they do indeed show you everything and would fittingly bring the mind to the work of controversial Italian legend Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris, The Dreamers). 

But, sex in Lee’s film doesn't really aim to titillate, at least when taken within their context. The characters view sex, and by extension Chai Chi’s body, as a tool or a skill. It is something she needs to sharpen and use against Yee. This is complemented by the matter of fact shooting style. While intense, the sex scenes aren’t lurid in the ways of a trashy erotic thriller. Deep in the running time, she says, “What trap are you talking about? My body?” and goes on to explain in graphic detail how she feels during sex. 

Additionally, the sex scenes function as a display of a predator becoming prey. Yee learns to almost submit to Chai Chi, allowing her to become more dominant and active. This in turn makes it easy for her to sink further into his heart, making it easier for him to become a less challenging target. In essence, Chai Chi is doing a performance. But Ang Lee also wants to complicate said performance (skip the next few paragraphs if you don’t want the ending spoiled, but I believe it necessary to talk about).

In the climax, as Chi and Yee are entering a jewelry shop to pick up a diamond ring, she notices the players in the assassination plot hiding in plain sight, cementing that this is the moment where they’ll kill Yee. But in a surprising turn of events, she warns Yee to run. The end result is Chai Chi and her associates getting executed under the dark of night, as Yee sits on her bed and lets the mask slip, openly showing that he cared for her, but knowing he cannot tell anyone about his emotions. Mrs. Yee asks what happened and he tells her to “Go downstairs. Keep playing.” 

There are a variety of ways to answer the question “why did she do it?” How one answers is dependent on how you interpret Chai Chi’s relationship with Yee. Since their sex becomes more passionate and, debatably, more consensual, was that an indication of her becoming in love? There is even a nice non-sexual moment where she sings for Yee, hinting at her growing affection. 

I believe it’s less about love and more about desiring the life she’s performing, which is of luxury, and assumedly once Yee is killed, that life will end and she’ll never be able to live a normal life, not even return to the one she’s living at the beginning of the film. Ironically, the decision that leads to her death is maybe the only actual choice she makes, as she’s been used as a pawn the whole time, never being allowed agency. 

Yet, the key to Lust, Caution is how much of a joy it is to watch. The intimidating two hour and thirty eight minute runtime rushes by. Lee and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto create luscious imagery out of WW2 era Hong Kong and Shanghai, which is complemented by Lai Pan’s stellar costume design. While Tang Wei and Tony Leung are incredible, the cast is uniformly great. Joan Chen is able to inject humanity to a character that doesn’t get a lot to do. One of the best early scenes is of the students target practicing on the beach, failing to hit a few glass bottles; demonstrating how ill equipped they are in their assassination attempt. Their amateurness goes on to manifest in a very violent sequence that is equally suspenseful and terrifying in showing how death isn’t always swift. 

That watchability, the combination of thorny, complex material and cinematic euphoria, is what keeps me coming back to Lust, Caution. It’s a wonderful film to get lost in.  

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