Product Details

• Actors: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Tang Wei, Joan Chen, Wang Leehom
• Directors: Ang Lee
• Writers: James Schamus, Wang Hui Ling
• Producers: Ang Lee, James Schamus, Bill Kong
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed: French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NC-17
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: February 19, 2008
• Run Time: 159 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (182 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0010SAGHI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,818 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Lust, Caution (Widescreen Edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Lust, Caution, Ang Lee's follow up to Brokeback Mountain, for which he won the Academy Award® for Best Director, continues his exploration of people with a passion for each other trapped in a world where their passion could be life-threatening, but in a very different context this time. Set in China during the Japanese occupation of early World War II, the underlying plot concerns the story of young Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei), an actress and member of a small group of student resistors planning to infiltrate the home of Mr. Yee (Tony Leung), a high-ranking collaborationist government official, in order to kill him for his role in the torture and executions of Chinese resistance fighters. Chi ingratiates herself with Yee's wife, the sophisticated and cultured Mrs. Yee (Joan Chen) under the guise of being the wife of a wealthy but unseen tycoon. Flashbacks tell the tale of how Chi came to be involved with the resistors: her acting ability is her most valuable asset, and her assignment is to act the role of Mr. Yee's lover, right down to the sex. The story of their love and the painful intimacy it involves for both of them is told through their sexual relationship, which starts out violently, drifts into S&M, and shifts with their feelings, moving from pain and fear to some sort of desperate connection. This is lust with a capital L; the film's sex scenes have become famous for their frankness and acrobatic portrayals (they took 12 days to film), but amazingly enough, it's never prurient. The nature of their sexual relationship, and not the sex itself, is the point. Chi falls in love with the man she's supposed to kill, but there is no stopping the mission and she knows it. The danger of it all collapsing for them both is ever present, and that's the Caution. The cinematography and direction in Lust, Caution is masterful, and every scene is beautiful. The film does drift into a languid pace, and at times one wonders why Lee would feel the need to draw it out at the expense of delaying the crucial climactic scenes. Still, it's a wonderful piece of storytelling that should only help solidify Ang Lee's place in cinematic history as a master of films that express the difficulty of being essentially human in an inhumane world. --Daniel Vancini

Stills from Lust, Caution (click for larger image)

Product Description

Provocative, thrilling and passionate, 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 that will ultimately determine her fate. Erotic, breathtaking and suspenseful, this award-winning film is being called "exquisitely beautiful" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) and "lushly sensual" (Leah Rozen, People).

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

198 of 218 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Lust with Caution December 10, 2007

By Dogville VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Ang Lee breaks through again with a masterful adaptation of Eileen Chang's short story, Lust/Caution (like what he did with Annie Prolux's similarly brief story, Brokeback Mountain). While the hype seems to be mostly misplaced on the controversial acrobatics displayed by Tony Leung and Tang Wei in bed, Lee's storytelling leaves one breathless.

The love story unfolds against the backdrop of 1930's Japanese-invaded Shanghai where tyranny and suffering were synonymous. Nubile Wang Jia Zhi played by Tang Wei joins the resistance movement and gets herself drawn into the role of a spy to crumble the traitor, Mr Yee. In between the espionage and wild climatic trysts, both of them unknowingly embroil themselves in love and deceit, much deeper than they would have liked themselves to.

Tang Wei, as a newcomer to cinema, is impeccable. Her evolution from a wide-eyed country girl to a seductive temptress is enough to make the hardest of most men, in this case, the distrusting Mr. Yee fall for her. Wei acts pretty much on instincts and her body language does wonders at seducing the somewhat vulnerable Mr. Yee played by multiple-award winner Tony Leung. Wei breaks down in the memorable scene where she's talking to the resistance leader on her unyieldingly sacrificial role that is both a torment and insidious attack to her emotions.

As usual, Tony has the penchant for playing dark brooding men and in this instance, an evil Chinese traitor. He does not act. His presence already commands attention as the cynical no-nonsense minister. The pivotal sex scenes, split into three parts, are not just there for visual enhancement. They actually convey the shift in roles between the two throughout their complex relationship. The raw emotions displayed on their faces were enough to convince anyone hard-hearted to think twice about the essence of love. I must say these are some of the best bed scenes you'll ever witness on film.

Of course, the supporting cast of Joan Chen as Mrs Yee and Wong Lee-Hom as Tang Wei's resistance compatriot, Kuang Yu Min, is every bit just as spectacular. In the end, the story about love is bittersweet. You'll also see how fervent the resistance movement, which puts the enemy above self and others, was through Wang Jia Zhi's eyes. Lust Caution is 157 minutes' of rewarding watch that will linger on in your minds well after the credits roll. (A+)

125 of 142 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My New Favorite Movie Of All Time! December 10, 2007

By LH

Format:DVD

I saw this movie twice in the theater - very unusual for someone as critical of movies as I am. The first time I went by myself, and the second time I took my husband, who was not initially interested in the story line (espionage and all). He also liked it a lot (though he did not have as much of a personal connection as I did with the film). I was like in a zone for a few days after I saw the movie. It really shook me to the core in a sense. A very powerful movie in and of itself, it moves me particularly because I am orinigally from China and Eileen Chang was one of my faovrite writers when I was a teenager book worm. Having grown up surrounded by the communisit propaganda, I found it refreshing to watch a movie so artfully done to create a theme about love, sexuality and loyalty. It shows how innocent and ignorant the young revolutionaries could be (something that was obviously omitted from our history lessons). This is a movie about powerful human emotions, like all the other movies directed by Ang Lee. I'm also happy to see Ang Lee sticking to making movies based on good, solid stories, instead of falling into the 'glitz overriding story' trap like so many other talented Chinese directors, Zhang Yimou and Cheng Kaige specifically.

Ang Lee said that he made this film for the Chinese audience, but I also read that he was disappointed by the fact that the Chinese media focused predominantly on the raw, sex scenes. I can understand his frustration. I wonder really how the mainland Chinese will embrace such a tale. Eileen Chang was never a Communist writer. In the book and the movie, the revolutionaries were referred to as 'the people from Chongqing.' As the Nationalist Party was based in Chongqing at the time (and the Communists in Yan'an), the revoluntionaries in the book were not Communinist members but Nationalists. That sort of contradicts everything we have learned in history lessons about the Communisit being the main heroes fighting against the Japanese and the Nationalists (the Kuomingtang) being wimpy traitors. Because of these reasons, I doubt mainland China will allow the movie to be shown in public.

But it doesn't mean the Chinese will be denied access to this beautiful film, thanks to the illegal DVD pirating industry. My sister-in-law in China has already bought the film (for a dollar) and watched it. Funny thing is she had very similar reaction to it as I did. My brother said she wouldn't talk to him for a few hours.

I disagree with some critics who called Ang Lee 'indecisive' in directing the movie. I think everything was very deliberately done and Ang Lee was very clear on what he planned to do with the story. He said that it was one of his favorite stories written by Eileen Chang. I suppose if you don't like the story (such as some other reviewers), you wouldn't like the movie. But to me, the story can be interpreted in many ways, and Ang Lee has done a brilliant job conveying what Eileen Chang wanted her story to convey. The sex scenes (not in the book) are integral to the story, as Eileen Chang wrote, "If the path to a man's heart is through his stomache, then the path to a woman's heart is through her v...." The movie is certainly not for the faint of heart.

By the way, the soundtrack is beautiful. I downloaded it from iTunes. Before I receive the DVD in the mail, the soundtrack will do. (But I wouldn't want a Chinese film that's dubbed in English. That's a crime. I'm buying it from somewhere else.)

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Cinema in spite of the Hype August 28, 2008

By CarlCarlsen

Format:Blu-ray

I first heard about Lust, Caution, like many others, due to its NC-17 rating by the MPAA. As this rating has tended to be an oracle of box office failure in the past, most studios due whatever needed to avoid it in theatrical release. Undaunted, director Ang Lee creates a film whose story and essence require scenes depicting the intimacy and emotion of very graphic sexuality. However, the film is not pornography, not sex and genitals for the sake of sex and genitals, but is rather an attempt to tell a story with the inclusion of sex for emphasis and impact--something all to often done with violence and completely overlooked in film ratings.

The story takes place in 1930s Shanghai, a Chinese city under Japanese occupation. While this setting is necessary to the plot, it also immerses the audience in a time and place completely foreign to all but the oldest generations in China today. Rations, checkpoints, suppression of movement and goods are all elements weighing on the movie's characters, but through connections and resourcefulness, most manage something just shy of a normal existence despite bearing the stress of war.

I cannot recommend this film to those easily upset by nudity or sexuality in film, nor those rare individuals averse to scenes of violence. But, for adults interested in a serious film filled with brutal emotion, the horrors of wartime, and the occasional tragedy of youthful rebellion, do see this.