We are in Shanghai during World War II. The city in under Japanese occupation. A group of Chinese patriots decide to assassinate a high-ranking Chinese traitor (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai). They send a young student (Tang Wei) to seduce him. While the situation is quite similar to the one presented in "Black Book", no two films could be more dissimilar. In fact - SPOILERS AHEAD - both films could be seen as mirror opposites of each other, united only by intense eroticism. "Black Book" is a story of a sexually liberated woman falling in love with a proverbial "Good German". "Lust Caution" is a story of a sexually inexperienced woman falling in lust with a manipulative monster. He's hardly a tender lover. Their first sexual encounter could only be described as a brutal rape. But it is precisely because he treats her so harshly that this innocent girl (whose own masochistic tendencies she blissfully ignores, but which are quite evident to the viewer) falls head over heels in lust with him. Directed by Ang Lee, "Lust Caution" is a powerful and marvellous erotic film, and a deeply disturbing spy melodrama. It's one thing to watch a young masochist having the time of her life in the clutches of a brutal sadist; it is quite another to watch a idealistic freedom fighter sacrificing, in vain, her life, her cause and her moral integrity. It is a deeply disturbing tragedy about lust and treason.
