MovieChat Forums > Se, jie (2007) Discussion > what an amazing movie

what an amazing movie

posted 16 years ago by ohohseven
4 replies | jump to latest

I have finally, with a couple of years delay, managed to watch this movie... and i am completely blown away. i have skimmed through the boards and i am surprised at the very conflicting reactions...

i do wonder whether chinese people feel strongly about it because of the betrayal?

also i don't get the furore over the sex scenes- they are so integral to the storyline, it is thanks to teh sex that we understand how the relationship between Wang and mr Yee is evolving... i think they start off using each other with full knowledge (or at least heavy suspicion) of each other's motives and then through the fury and the pain they somehow find each other and what they have, while in some ways lurid and sordid and "immoral", is also the closest thing each of them has to feeling alive.

the way i saw Wang is that throughout the whole movies she becomes more and more alone and isolated, and more and more vulnerable- at the end, when she breaks down to the resistance leaders, it's clear she's totally adrift and desolate, nothing in her world feels real anymore, except the raw and painful and intensely real sex with Yee- i think that's how they find each other. i have no doubt that at the end they really love each other.

Yee is a monster but he is still human, and concentrates all his humanity on Wang... he is also totally alone and hunted.

incidentally i am convicned that Yee will pay a heavy price for his weakness, after all his deputy knew all and didn't tell him- it is clear they were willing to have yee die in order to catch the rebels.

i love this film because there are no easy answers, no good or bad guys, everyone has shifty and uncertain morals and motives, and in the end there is nothing left- all the pain, the suffering, the intense longing, and nothing... very, very like Brokeback Mountain in that respect.

[–] matsya_q 16 years ago

Japan has always been a bit of a sore issue for the Chinese. Chinese people are also extremely patriotic and they have not forgotten what has happened in the past, which is why this topic is still so sensitive.

I may be stereotyping here, but I think that the Chinese people were frustrated at the length of the film and to make matters worse, the plan falls to shambles and the traitor lives.

In my opinion, the pace of the film effectively reflected 1940s Shanghai's slow, dreary lifestyle and it really accentuated the hopelessness of the mainland Chinese people at that period of time. I don't think viewers fully appreciated because they were so direly eager for Mr Yee to be killed.

I agree that the sex scenes were integral to the storyline. People made a huge fuss over it, but what do you expect from a film that's named 'LUST, Caution'? Though it is not all about sex, there are a lot of raw emotions involved and the cast did a brilliant job.

Ang Lee described Tony Leung's eyes as 'a dream' and I totally agree. In the final scene, when he sat on Wang Jia Zhi's bed, his character showed such a vulnerable side, proving that Wang Jia Zhi truly managed to break through that icy exterior of his.

As for Tang Wei, I didn't know what to expect from her, seeing as she was a newcomer, carrying a lead role along side a veteran actor in a film by a world-renowned director, who would've thought that she was capable of stealing the show! She was truly breathtaking as Jia Zhi and your heart was with her throughout the film.

You're right, this film has no easy answers and it plagues your mind for days. Every time I watch it, my heart sinks for Wang Jia Zhi all over again.

[–] jnagarya-1 16 years ago

Though it's said that this was Tang Wei's first film, according to her page on imdb it was her second.

Still, she matches Leung's performance every step of the way. Watch chapter 16 for how brilliant their acting. But, then again, I think one of Ang Lee's first concerns is the comfort of his cast, so the first thing he does, and the thing he is most careful to maintain, is a relaxed environment, with nothing to distract the actors from their foci.

I'm not an expert on all those current, but Ang Lee is my favorite director.

Otherwise:

"also i don't get the furore over the sex scenes- they are so integral to the storyline, it is thanks to teh sex that we understand how the relationship between Wang and mr Yee is evolving..."

Certainly. But some are too shallow to see beyond what they are actually hoping to see: pornography.

"i think they start off using each other with full knowledge (or at least heavy suspicion) of each other's motives"

No. She knew her motive -- to seduce him so he could be assassinated -- and his motives: a collaborater and executioner.

He knew his motives, but wondered what hers were.

"and then through the fury and the pain they somehow find each other and what they have, while in some ways lurid and sordid and "immoral", is also the closest thing each of them has to feeling alive."

I don't think she had any problem feeling alive. He did because so thoroughly defensive. For her he was only the second person with whom she had sex, and that was new to her.

[–] Kiwifalling 14 years ago

great movie. ending was raw as hell

[–] Elisabet Jonsson 12 years ago

I agree with your analysis and reactions and yes, some of the reactions on this board are hard to understand.