| | | R-Rated Film.
Features: DVD, Rated R, English, Dolby, Dolby Digital (5.1)
Provocative, thrilling and sensual, Lust, Caution is the daring new film from acclaimed Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Set against the backdrop of a transforming country, a young woman finds herself swept up in a radical plot to assassinate a ruthless and secretive intelligence agent. As she immerses herself in her role as a cosmopolitan seductress, she becomes entangled in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue, love and betrayal.
"...both a cannily constructed spy thriller and a grim kind of love story..." Dana Stevens, Slate
"...operates on the same principle that distinguishes all lasting romances, be they "Wuthering Heights," "Casablanca" or "When Harry Met Sally."" Desson Thomson, The Washington Post
"Lee has perfectly captured the details, textures, sights and sounds of a China caught between East and West..." Ken Fox, TV Guide
"A brooding meditation on the unnerving power and terrible cost of emotional and political masquerades...gets under your skin..." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"Lee is a true master, and his potently erotic and suspenseful Lust, Caution casts a spell you won't want to break." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Editor's Note
After BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and THE HULK, multitalented director Ang Lee returns to Asia with this Mandarin-language erotic drama. LUST, CAUTION pairs celebrated actor Tony Leung (2046) with gifted neophyte Tang Wei. In 1938, China is occupied by the Japanese, but it's not only the country's neighbors who are hated by the loyal Chinese. The nation's resistance also centers on those who willingly collaborate with Japan. Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) is part of an acting group, but their sights are set beyond the stage: they want to use their abilities to attack Mr. Yee (Leung), a known traitor. Wong poses as a businessman's wife, and she begins to lure Mr. Yee in, but they're separated before she has her chance. Three years later, they meet again in Shanghai, and a heated affair begins. As Wong grows closer to Mr. Yee, there is doubt that she can aid in her lover's downfall.At times, LUST, CAUTION evokes memories of Wong Kar-Wai's IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. Both are heat-filled period films that feature the nearly perfect Leung, but while the earlier picture focused on a love that was never consummated, LUST, CAUTION allows its lovers to realize their passion as often--and in as many ways--as one could imagine. But despite the film's NC-17 rating, it never allows the sex to get in the way of the plot or the images. Director of photography Rodrigo Prieto has worked with directors as diverse and impressive as Oliver Stone, Julie Taymor, Spike Lee, and Alejandro González Iñárritu, and he continues this fine tradition with his second pairing with Lee after BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. Here Prieto has a head start thanks to beautiful costumes and beautiful people, but this is another film that is simply gorgeous to look at.
| Features | Audio: Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Featurette: Tiles Of Deception, Lurid Affections | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 1/6/2009 |
| Running Time: 159 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 62103667 | | UPC: 00025195028950 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: Mandarin | | Available Audio Tracks: French Dubbed, Japanese, Mandarin | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Joan Chen | | Lee-Hom Wang | | Tony Leung Chiu Wai | | Wei Tang | | Alexandre Desplat - Original Music By | | Ang Lee - Director | | Eileen Chang - Based On Story By | | Hui-Ling Wang - Screenplay | | James Schamus - Executive Producer | | James Schamus - Screenplay | | Kwok-wing Chong, et. al. - Art Director | | Lai Pan - Production Designer | | Lloyd Chao - Producer | | Rodrigo Prieto - Cinematographer | | Tim Squyres - Editor |
| Awards |
Nominee (2008) | | | Golden Globe, Lust, Caution, Best Foreign Language Film | |
Winner (2007) | | | Venice Film Festival, Ang Lee, Golden Lion Award | | | Venice Film Festival, Rodrigo Prieto, Golden Osella - Best Cinematography |
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| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "There are no wasted motions. Exquisite beauty and barbarous intent are all caught in the lens of the great cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto." 10/04/2007 p.86USA Today
3 stars out of 4 -- "[B]eautifully mounted....A deliberately paced tale of espionage and double-crosses....[It] has a literary feel, unfolding at a stately pace." 09/28/2007 p.4E Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "This is a film of deceptive subtlety that springs its climax like a steel trap....Both provocative and satisfying..." 01/01/2008 p.54 Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "Lee's saucy, sumptuous slow-burner is a complex, elegant seduction, drawing on Hitchcock..." 01/01/2008 p.42 Los Angeles Times
"[An] intense, psychologically intricate and sexually explicit film....LUST, CAUTION gets under your skin with its examination of what qualifies as love and what does not." 10/05/2007 Sight and Sound
"[I]n her screen debut as Wong, Tang Wei is as much a revelation as was Zhang Ziyi in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON." 02/01/2008 p.72 Uncut
4 stars out of 5 -- "An exquisitely choreographed study of romantic deception...and a satisfyingly complex analysis of political expediency." 06/01/2008 p.124 Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "LUST, CAUTION is a detailed and compelling period piece, with a decidedly dark underbelly." 05/01/2008 p.107 ReelViews 9 of 10
Ang Lee's follow-up to Brokeback Mountain is Lust, Caution. The film's receipt of an NC-17 by the MPAA was dutifully noted by the mainstream media, as was the distributor's (Focus Features) decision not to appeal the rating. NC-17 movies aren't released often and, when they are, they rarely make an impression at the box office - some mainstream multiplex chains refuse to show them and some newspapers will not advertise them. This has earned the NC-17 the nickname of the "kiss of death"...Lust, Caution is one of those films that requires patience. Like cold water brought to a boil, it takes a long time but once the bubbles start appearing, the roiling is impossible to stop. Lee, who has never been one to stand pat or rest in a particular genre (this is, after all, a filmmaker who has been responsible for such diverse fare as Crouching Tiger, Hulk, and Brokeback Mountain) moves fluidly into new territory and conquers it with an ease that is almost breathless. Aided by the nuanced, forceful performances of his two leads, he has made Lust, Caution something to be seen and savored. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution" is first languid, then passionate, as it tells the story of a young woman who joins a political murder plot and then becomes emotionally involved with her enemy. It begins at a 1942 Mah-Jongg game in Hong Kong, when erotic undertones become clearly audible to us, and then flashes back to Shanghai, 1938, during the Japanese occupation of China...There is not a frame of the film that is not beautiful, but there may be too many frames. Why does Ang Lee go into such depth and detail to establish this world, and why does he delay the film's crucial scenes? I don't know, but of course seeing the film the first time I didn't know that was what he was doing and grew restless before I grew involved. Asked to edit the sex scenes to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating, Lee quite properly refused and was backed all the way by James Schamus, his co-writer and also, significantly, head of Focus Features, which is releasing the film...The nature of the sex is Lee's subject, and he is too honest to suppress that. His moments of full frontal nudity avoid the awkwardness of most movie sex scenes in which the lovers, although alone, carefully mask their naughty bits. The scenes are not edited for erotic effect, it must be observed, but are treated in terms of their psychological meaning. - Roger Ebert
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