'Lust, Caution's' Open Hearts Aren't For Closed Minds; The Sex Is Graphic, the Love Nuanced

"Lust, Caution," a "romance noir" set in Japanese-occupiedShanghai, makes a powerful case for love as a transcendental forcethat draws people together, no matter how perverse audiences maydeem their relationship.

Director Ang Lee has created an affecting, minor-key ode to love,in the tradition of films such as "The Night Porter," "Dance With aStranger," "M. Butterfly" and "Damage." In these dramas, thepartners are morally questionable; their love becomes their onlygrace note. The tighter the outside world closes around them, themore they cling to one another, like victims falling together from agreat height. And we are torturously caught up in this, feeling pityand empathy rather than condemnation.

Adapted from a short story by Shanghai-born Eileen Chang, wholived through (and set several novels in) this 1940s backdrop, themovie unfolds like a political thriller. But its real drama occurswithin the hearts of two flawed people, drawn to each other despitea wartime atmosphere that casts them as adversaries. Theirsadomasochistic sexual liaisons -- graphically depicted -- initially alarm us. But we come to understand how this aggressivebehavior, seemingly laced with hatred and contempt, belies a growingemotional connection.

The 50ish Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) is the ruthless, debonair head ofsecurity for the collaborative Chinese government. Wang Chia-chih(Tang Wei) is a patriotic revolutionary in her 20s; she has drawnthe short straw in her circle of student radicals to seduce and lurehim into a deadly trap. When the inevitable affair takes place, shelearns she has become entangled with a sadist whose brutal bedroommanner hides a tormented tenderness. Touched instead of hardenedagainst him, she finds herself falling in love, and caught in a gameof double deception -- against Yee and her compatriots.

In spite of the NC-17 rating, Lee makes lyrical if disconcertingpoetry of their cruelly drawn affair; the director did somethingsimilar when he examined a clandestine love tinged with bitternessand regret in "Brokeback Mountain." In this world of Mahjong parlorsand opium dens, where survival is the only virtue, the lovers arefinding their own blissful asylum. And we're oddly moved by theirhermetically sealed strength of purpose.

In a film where casting is a vital component in the edgyequation, Leung and Tang make a picturesque and dramaticallycompelling couple. Leung, best known as a swoony icon in art houseromances such as "2046" and "In the Mood for Love," is castwonderfully against type. Suddenly his delicate, almost femininefeatures are fraught with menace. And Tang, who makes her debut,firmly establishes herself as a softly persuasive screen presencefor the future. In "Lust, Caution," her combination of grim purposeand almost ethereal tenderness bring a much needed personaldimension to the tragedy.

While the sexual scenes between them are explicit, they are alsosensitively portrayed. It is the sweaty sensuality of theirthrusting bodies, and the seemingly endless intensity, that makesthese encounters seem so licentious, not the sex itself. Thefilmmakers, including screenwriters James Schamus and Hui-Ling Wang,are showing us the battle between two wills, not a pornographic peepshow. (This subtle distinction has eluded the ratings board of theMotion Picture Association, which recently gave an R rating to "TheHeartbreak Kid," a comedy that makes sight gags out of forceful,graphic sex, children snorting cocaine and even bestiality.) Thatsomething so pure as love can grow in such unseeming circumstancesis testament to the one emotional state that binds most -- if notall -- of us.

Lust, Caution (157 minutes at Landmark's Bethesda Row) is ratedNC-17 for explicit sexuality. In Mandarin Chinese with subtitles.

'Lust, Caution's' Open Hearts Aren't For Closed Minds; The Sex Is Graphic, the Love Nuanced

"Lust, Caution," a "romance noir" set in Japanese-occupiedShanghai, makes a powerful case for love as a transcendental forcethat draws people together, no matter how perverse audiences maydeem their relationship.

Director Ang Lee has created an affecting, minor-key ode to love,in the tradition of films such as "The Night Porter," "Dance With aStranger," "M. Butterfly" and "Damage." In these dramas, thepartners are morally questionable; their love becomes their onlygrace note. The tighter the outside world closes around them, themore they cling to one another, like victims falling together from agreat height. And we are torturously caught up in this, feeling pityand empathy rather than condemnation.

Adapted from a short story by Shanghai-born Eileen Chang, wholived through (and set several novels in) this 1940s backdrop, themovie unfolds like a political thriller. But its real drama occurswithin the hearts of two flawed people, drawn to each other despitea wartime atmosphere that casts them as adversaries. Theirsadomasochistic sexual liaisons -- graphically depicted -- initially alarm us. But we come to understand how this aggressivebehavior, seemingly laced with hatred and contempt, belies a growingemotional connection.

The 50ish Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) is the ruthless, debonair head ofsecurity for the collaborative Chinese government. Wang Chia-chih(Tang Wei) is a patriotic revolutionary in her 20s; she has drawnthe short straw in her circle of student radicals to seduce and lurehim into a deadly trap. When the inevitable affair takes place, shelearns she has become entangled with a sadist whose brutal bedroommanner hides a tormented tenderness. Touched instead of hardenedagainst him, she finds herself falling in love, and caught in a gameof double deception -- against Yee and her compatriots.

In spite of the NC-17 rating, Lee makes lyrical if disconcertingpoetry of their cruelly drawn affair; the director did somethingsimilar when he examined a clandestine love tinged with bitternessand regret in "Brokeback Mountain." In this world of Mahjong parlorsand opium dens, where survival is the only virtue, the lovers arefinding their own blissful asylum. And we're oddly moved by theirhermetically sealed strength of purpose.

In a film where casting is a vital component in the edgyequation, Leung and Tang make a picturesque and dramaticallycompelling couple. Leung, best known as a swoony icon in art houseromances such as "2046" and "In the Mood for Love," is castwonderfully against type. Suddenly his delicate, almost femininefeatures are fraught with menace. And Tang, who makes her debut,firmly establishes herself as a softly persuasive screen presencefor the future. In "Lust, Caution," her combination of grim purposeand almost ethereal tenderness bring a much needed personaldimension to the tragedy.

While the sexual scenes between them are explicit, they are alsosensitively portrayed. It is the sweaty sensuality of theirthrusting bodies, and the seemingly endless intensity, that makesthese encounters seem so licentious, not the sex itself. Thefilmmakers, including screenwriters James Schamus and Hui-Ling Wang,are showing us the battle between two wills, not a pornographic peepshow. (This subtle distinction has eluded the ratings board of theMotion Picture Association, which recently gave an R rating to "TheHeartbreak Kid," a comedy that makes sight gags out of forceful,graphic sex, children snorting cocaine and even bestiality.) Thatsomething so pure as love can grow in such unseeming circumstancesis testament to the one emotional state that binds most -- if notall -- of us.

Lust, Caution (157 minutes at Landmark's Bethesda Row) is ratedNC-17 for explicit sexuality. In Mandarin Chinese with subtitles.

'Lust, Caution's' Open Hearts Aren't For Closed Minds; The Sex Is Graphic, the Love Nuanced

"Lust, Caution," a "romance noir" set in Japanese-occupiedShanghai, makes a powerful case for love as a transcendental forcethat draws people together, no matter how perverse audiences maydeem their relationship.

Director Ang Lee has created an affecting, minor-key ode to love,in the tradition of films such as "The Night Porter," "Dance With aStranger," "M. Butterfly" and "Damage." In these dramas, thepartners are morally questionable; their love becomes their onlygrace note. The tighter the outside world closes around them, themore they cling to one another, like victims falling together from agreat height. And we are torturously caught up in this, feeling pityand empathy rather than condemnation.

Adapted from a short story by Shanghai-born Eileen Chang, wholived through (and set several novels in) this 1940s backdrop, themovie unfolds like a political thriller. But its real drama occurswithin the hearts of two flawed people, drawn to each other despitea wartime atmosphere that casts them as adversaries. Theirsadomasochistic sexual liaisons -- graphically depicted -- initially alarm us. But we come to understand how this aggressivebehavior, seemingly laced with hatred and contempt, belies a growingemotional connection.

The 50ish Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) is the ruthless, debonair head ofsecurity for the collaborative Chinese government. Wang Chia-chih(Tang Wei) is a patriotic revolutionary in her 20s; she has drawnthe short straw in her circle of student radicals to seduce and lurehim into a deadly trap. When the inevitable affair takes place, shelearns she has become entangled with a sadist whose brutal bedroommanner hides a tormented tenderness. Touched instead of hardenedagainst him, she finds herself falling in love, and caught in a gameof double deception -- against Yee and her compatriots.

In spite of the NC-17 rating, Lee makes lyrical if disconcertingpoetry of their cruelly drawn affair; the director did somethingsimilar when he examined a clandestine love tinged with bitternessand regret in "Brokeback Mountain." In this world of Mahjong parlorsand opium dens, where survival is the only virtue, the lovers arefinding their own blissful asylum. And we're oddly moved by theirhermetically sealed strength of purpose.

In a film where casting is a vital component in the edgyequation, Leung and Tang make a picturesque and dramaticallycompelling couple. Leung, best known as a swoony icon in art houseromances such as "2046" and "In the Mood for Love," is castwonderfully against type. Suddenly his delicate, almost femininefeatures are fraught with menace. And Tang, who makes her debut,firmly establishes herself as a softly persuasive screen presencefor the future. In "Lust, Caution," her combination of grim purposeand almost ethereal tenderness bring a much needed personaldimension to the tragedy.

While the sexual scenes between them are explicit, they are alsosensitively portrayed. It is the sweaty sensuality of theirthrusting bodies, and the seemingly endless intensity, that makesthese encounters seem so licentious, not the sex itself. Thefilmmakers, including screenwriters James Schamus and Hui-Ling Wang,are showing us the battle between two wills, not a pornographic peepshow. (This subtle distinction has eluded the ratings board of theMotion Picture Association, which recently gave an R rating to "TheHeartbreak Kid," a comedy that makes sight gags out of forceful,graphic sex, children snorting cocaine and even bestiality.) Thatsomething so pure as love can grow in such unseeming circumstancesis testament to the one emotional state that binds most -- if notall -- of us.

Lust, Caution (157 minutes at Landmark's Bethesda Row) is ratedNC-17 for explicit sexuality. In Mandarin Chinese with subtitles.

'Lust, Caution's' Open Hearts Aren't For Closed Minds; The Sex Is Graphic, the Love Nuanced

"Lust, Caution," a "romance noir" set in Japanese-occupiedShanghai, makes a powerful case for love as a transcendental forcethat draws people together, no matter how perverse audiences maydeem their relationship.

Director Ang Lee has created an affecting, minor-key ode to love,in the tradition of films such as "The Night Porter," "Dance With aStranger," "M. Butterfly" and "Damage." In these dramas, thepartners are morally questionable; their love becomes their onlygrace note. The tighter the outside world closes around them, themore they cling to one another, like victims falling together from agreat height. And we are torturously caught up in this, feeling pityand empathy rather than condemnation.

Adapted from a short story by Shanghai-born Eileen Chang, wholived through (and set several novels in) this 1940s backdrop, themovie unfolds like a political thriller. But its real drama occurswithin the hearts of two flawed people, drawn to each other despitea wartime atmosphere that casts them as adversaries. Theirsadomasochistic sexual liaisons -- graphically depicted -- initially alarm us. But we come to understand how this aggressivebehavior, seemingly laced with hatred and contempt, belies a growingemotional connection.

The 50ish Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) is the ruthless, debonair head ofsecurity for the collaborative Chinese government. Wang Chia-chih(Tang Wei) is a patriotic revolutionary in her 20s; she has drawnthe short straw in her circle of student radicals to seduce and lurehim into a deadly trap. When the inevitable affair takes place, shelearns she has become entangled with a sadist whose brutal bedroommanner hides a tormented tenderness. Touched instead of hardenedagainst him, she finds herself falling in love, and caught in a gameof double deception -- against Yee and her compatriots.

In spite of the NC-17 rating, Lee makes lyrical if disconcertingpoetry of their cruelly drawn affair; the director did somethingsimilar when he examined a clandestine love tinged with bitternessand regret in "Brokeback Mountain." In this world of Mahjong parlorsand opium dens, where survival is the only virtue, the lovers arefinding their own blissful asylum. And we're oddly moved by theirhermetically sealed strength of purpose.

In a film where casting is a vital component in the edgyequation, Leung and Tang make a picturesque and dramaticallycompelling couple. Leung, best known as a swoony icon in art houseromances such as "2046" and "In the Mood for Love," is castwonderfully against type. Suddenly his delicate, almost femininefeatures are fraught with menace. And Tang, who makes her debut,firmly establishes herself as a softly persuasive screen presencefor the future. In "Lust, Caution," her combination of grim purposeand almost ethereal tenderness bring a much needed personaldimension to the tragedy.

While the sexual scenes between them are explicit, they are alsosensitively portrayed. It is the sweaty sensuality of theirthrusting bodies, and the seemingly endless intensity, that makesthese encounters seem so licentious, not the sex itself. Thefilmmakers, including screenwriters James Schamus and Hui-Ling Wang,are showing us the battle between two wills, not a pornographic peepshow. (This subtle distinction has eluded the ratings board of theMotion Picture Association, which recently gave an R rating to "TheHeartbreak Kid," a comedy that makes sight gags out of forceful,graphic sex, children snorting cocaine and even bestiality.) Thatsomething so pure as love can grow in such unseeming circumstancesis testament to the one emotional state that binds most -- if notall -- of us.

Lust, Caution (157 minutes at Landmark's Bethesda Row) is ratedNC-17 for explicit sexuality. In Mandarin Chinese with subtitles.