Se, jie (2007)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Ang Lee

Writers:

Eileen Chang (story)
James Schamus (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 September 2007 (Taiwan)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Thriller | War

Tagline:

To kill the enemy, she would have to capture his heart....and break her own.

Plot:

An espionage thriller set in WWII-era Shanghai, in which a young woman, Wang Jiazhi, gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee.

Plot Keywords:

Student | WWII | China | Game | Resistance

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 15 wins & 23 nominations

Cast

Tony Leung Chiu Wai	...	Mr. Yee
Wei Tang	...	Wong Chia Chi / Mak Tai Tai
Joan Chen	...	Yee Tai Tai
Lee-Hom Wang	...	Kuang Yu Min
Chung Hua Tou	...	Old Wu
Chih-ying Chu	...	Lai Shu Jin
Ying-hsien Kao	...	Huang Lei
Yue-Lin Ko	...	Liang Jun Sheng
Johnson Yuen	...	Auyang Ling Wen / Mr. Mak
Kar Lok Chin	...	Tsao
Yan Su	...	Ma Tai Tai
Saifei He	...	Hsiao Tai Tai
Ruhui Song	...	Wang's Aunt
Anupam Kher	...	Khalid Saiduddin
Jie Liu	...	Leung Tai Tai

Also Known As:

Lust, Caution (USA)
Se jie (China: Mandarin title)

MPAA:

Rated NC-17 for some explicit sexuality; Rated R for strong sexual content and a scene of brutal violence (edited version).

Runtime:

157 min | 148 min (edited version)

Country:

USA | China | Taiwan | Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | Japanese | English | Hindi | Shanghainese | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:NC-17 | Hong Kong:III | Singapore:NC-16 (edited version) | Taiwan:R-18 | Malaysia:18PL (cut) | South Korea:18 | Germany:16 | UK:18 | Australia:R | Philippines:R-18 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:16 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (British Columbia/Ontario) | Canada:R (Alberta/Manitoba) | Norway:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Finland:K-15 | Italy:VM14 | Portugal:M/18 | France:-12 | Japan:R-18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R (heavily cut version) | Singapore:R21 (re-release) (uncut) | Argentina:18 | USA:TV-MA (TV rating) (uncut version) | New Zealand:R18 | Peru:18

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Hai Sheng Film Production Company

Trivia:

Reportedly, Ang Lee saw 10,000 actresses before casting Wei Tang.

Goofs:

Continuity: The story ends with Mr. Yee and Wong picking up the ring just after the mahjong game from the opening scene. During this game one of the ladies mentions a ring with a gemstone as large as an egg. While choosing the gem for the ring earlier in the story Wong refers to this remark which clearly takes place later on in the story.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2007-09-29)" (2007)

Words of Caution about 'Lust'

Too long, too slow, too self-indulgent, and too brutal in its graphic sex scenes, Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution" is a film not to be missed.

Whatever misgivings there may be about it, this festival-winning film is a mesmerizing, rich experience. After 2 1/2 hours of being bombarded with a World War II love-and-hate story that's both exciting and dragging, chances are you will be still pinned to your seat, anxious to find out how it ends.

The "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Brokeback Mountain" director has turned his attention to war-threatened Hong Kong in 1938 and Japanese-occupied Shanghai in 1942 (complete with a "safe Japanese zone"), seen through the eyes of a group of young Chinese resistance fighters.

Based on the late Chinese-American writer Eileen Chang's short story of the same name, the focus of "Se, jie" is the relationship between Mr. Yee, head of the ruthless Japanese-collaborator security forces (played by Tony Leung, leading man of some 80 films) and a young actress with the resistance, played by Wei Tang, in her very first film role.

They make a strange pair, both in the roles and as actors. Of the story - a cat-and-mouse game between the seductress/underground agent and the Japanese puppet/lord of life and death among the occupied - the less said the better in order to enjoy the movie. As actors, it's a veteran facing a new challenge and a novice who shows great skill and assurance.

Leung has always been a brooding, symphathetic, worn-but-handsome presence, especially in his collaborations with director Wong Kai War. Here, for the first time, he plays not just a heavy, an ugly character, but a scary, unhappy, murderous man, literally a dark figure, lurking in the shadows. It's a great performance, fully realizing both aspects of the character: the monster and the man.

Lee's love for the cinema classics is shown both in his use of excerpts from Hollywood greats (as the young actress frequents movie theaters) and in his creation of memorable images. This is a director with a painterly sensibility and the ability to transform objects into instantly memorable pictures. Never will you see mahjong again without recalling "Lust, Caution." Few of Lee's favorite classics can match the simple effectiveness of his final image here, of a sheet with slight depressions left by what rested on it shortly before: white on white, and yet meaningful and affecting.

Leung and Tang fairly monopolize the screen, but the rest of the large cast is outstanding, led by San Franciscan Joan Chang as Yee's wife, and the vivid individual characters in the resistance, including the American-born Chinese pop star Leehom Wang.