There was a lot in this film that reminded me very much of Hitchcock films. The sexy female with a secret and a tormented conscience, the loaded dialogues, the music, even plot elements like espionage and assassination jive with much of Hitchcock's work. This film is wonderful, I'd find it interesting to learn if Ang Lee was paying homage to the great suspense director. Any thoughts?
shareu r absolutely right.
many reviewers said things like this
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/10/05/an_epic_of_espionage_eroticism/
Lee and Schamus drop a few classic-film clues to help us find our way: movie-theater shots of Cary Grant in "Penny Serenade"; Ingrid Bergman in "Intermezzo"; a poster for Hitchcock's "Suspicion." Ah, got it: Grant, Bergman, Hitchcock - this is Ang Lee's "Notorious."
Plus, the protracted murder setpiece with the victim who just...won't...DIE is a reference to Hitch's Torn Curtain.
sharethis is Ang Lee's "Notorious"
Didn't think about it, but this is a very interesting point. A Notorious turned very, very bad, and mostly because the "bad" guy was much more powerful, willful and sexually aware, while the "good" guy was much more weak and shy (and WAY too virginal, for everybody's sake ). Notorious ends up well mostly because Cary Grant's character (eventually) didn't fear to show that he loved the lady, and had the guts to go into the wolf's den to save her. In Lust. Caution, the situation evolves in the worst way possible mostly because the rebel faction doesn't seem to give a sh!t about their lady spy. To her it just (rightfully) seemed that Mr. Yee was the only person to show true feelings for her. If the rebel guys had shown more consideration for her sacrifice (instead of almost literally covering their ears while she was trying to explain what she was going through), they wouldn't have lost their grip on the mission. And hell, Kuang who supposedly loved her didn't do anything to stop her from having to sleep with Mr. Yee. He didn't even want to be the one to take her virginity (I know it should have been done by somebody with "some experience", but he doesn't even complain about it!).
edit, about Kuang: also, of course that making love for the first time with the one you care for should NOT happen under these circumstances. Not because she "has to be deflowered". And of course that, once they have decided to have her seduce Mr. Yee, she stopped being pure - they have sacrificed her purity, not just her body. It was a really nasty situation - she had to lose something dear to her, no matter what: either her purity (and by that I don't mean just virginity), or her patriotic statement. And in either case, she was bound to lose Kuang... But what I meant was that I would have hated a guy who put me into such a situation. And I would have hated his guts if I saw that he didn't do more that flinch a little in order to prevent me from getting in the middle of such a thing.
...But then, they were young, they were rebellious, maybe they truly thought that a little sleeping around in the name of the country wouldn't weigh so hard...
...Which doesn't change the fact that Kuang is way too passive for everybody's sake. Whether that came from shyness in front of the loved one, patriotism or simple lack of balls, it is the one thing that had the strongest influence on their failure.
Dave Jenkins. Calder Benson. Jim Cooper. Chuck Youngblood.