Lust, Caution

In Japanese-occupied Shanghai during World War II, a young woman becomes the weapon of Chinese resistance fighters. Ang Lee's 2007 film Lust, Caution follows Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei), a university student recruited to seduce Mr. Yee (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), a high-ranking collaborator with the Japanese puppet government. The film cost $15 million to produce and earned over $67 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing NC-17 rated film in American history. Based on a 1979 novella by Eileen Chang, the story draws inspiration from a real 1939 assassination attempt by a female agent against Wang Jingwei's collaborator Ding Mocun.

Lee cast Tang Wei after auditioning over ten thousand candidates. The explicit sex scenes required two weeks of filming on a closed set with only the director, actors, and cinematographer present. Tony Leung and Tang Wei performed without body doubles. The Chinese government initially approved the film but later banned it and imposed a two-year career suspension on Tang Wei. Rodrigo Prieto's cinematography and Alexandre Desplat's score earned critical praise, with Desplat winning the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Original Score. [edit]

In 1938 Hong Kong, university student Wong Chia Chi joins a patriotic theater troupe led by the charismatic Kuang Yu Min. The group devises a plan to assassinate Mr. Yee, a Chinese official collaborating with the Japanese occupation. Wong adopts the identity of Mrs. Mak, the sophisticated wife of a wealthy businessman, and infiltrates Mr. Yee's social circle by befriending his wife through mahjong games and high-society gatherings.

Wong successfully catches Mr. Yee's attention, beginning a passionate affair. But Mr. Yee remains paranoid and cautious, making the assassination nearly impossible. When an unexpected turn forces Wong to flee Hong Kong, the plot collapses.

Four years later, in 1942 Shanghai, Kuang Yu Min re-enters Wong's life as part of a more organized resistance. They recruit her to revive the plot against Mr. Yee, now head of the collaborationist secret police. Wong resumes her role as Mrs. Mak and her affair with Mr. Yee. Their relationship becomes increasingly intimate and psychologically complex, with brutal sexual encounters revealing shifting power dynamics. Wong questions whether her feelings are performance or genuine, while Mr. Yee begins to lower his guard. The resistance plans to kill Mr. Yee at a jewelry store using a diamond ring purchase as the trap. Wong must choose between her mission and the man she may love.[edit]