Lust, Caution

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

2007 2h 38m ZH

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 852

ActionDramaRomanceThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

During World War II, a secret agent must seduce, then assassinate an official who works for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai. Her mission becomes clouded when she finds herself falling in love with the man she is assigned to kill.

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

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Tang Wei
Wong Chia Chi / Mrs. Mak
Tony Leung Chiu-wai
Mr. Yee
Leehom Wang
Kuang Yu Min
Joan Chen
Mrs. Yee
Tou Tsung-hua
Old Wu
Jacqueline Zhu
Lai Shu Jin
Ven Kao
Huang Lei
Lawrence Ko
Liang Jun Sheng

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ang Lee
Writers: Wang Huiling, James Schamus
Languages: Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, English
Countries: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 158 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.5× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ang Lee, shot by Rodrigo Prieto. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alexandre Desplat. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tim Squyres shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ang Lee directs. Rodrigo Prieto behind the camera. Alexandre Desplat scores. Tim Squyres cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, United States of America. Dialogue in Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 158 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Made its money back 4.5× over at the box office.
3Released 19 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, English.
5International production across 4 countries: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, United States of America.
6Directed by Ang Lee, shot by Rodrigo Prieto. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Alexandre Desplat. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Tim Squyres shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Tang Wei and Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Leehom Wang carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "To kill the enemy, she would have to capture his heart... and break her own.".
11IMDB entry: tt0808357 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 22 themes, including "secret love", "china", "sexual obsession", "shanghai, china".
13Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto
Original score: Alexandre Desplat
Editing: Tim Squyres
Production design: Shandy Lui Fung-Shan
Costume design: Shandy Lui Fung-Shan
Makeup / hair: Chen Suyuan
Sound: Sona Balam
Stunt coordinator: Chin Ka-Lok
Runtime: 158 min · 2h 38m
Status: Released
Budget: $15,000,000
Box office: $67,100,000
Return: 447% of budget
Original language: ZH
Certification (US): NC-17
IMDB: Lust, Caution (2007)

Awards

Golden Horse Award for Best Feature Film
Golden Lion

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Ang Lee

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

badelf2026-08-13
★ 8/10
Summary: 8/10: A sensuously tense espionage thriller anchored by extraordinary performances from Tang Wei and Tony Leung; Ang Lee crafts a meticulously paced, beautifully shot meditation on desire, deception, and the dangerous space where ideology meets genuine feeling. This is a classic spy thriller, like a John le Carré novel, except instead of England and Russia, it's between Japan and occupied China during WWII. Set in Hong Kong in 1938 and Shanghai in 1942, when it was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army and ruled by the puppet government led by Wang Jingwei, the film follows a circle of young Chinese revolutionaries who attempt to assassinate a high-ranking collaborator. And more like a Bond film, this one is hot, sexy, and steamy, earning its NC-17 rating honestly. Tang Wei is incredible in this role. Playing Wang Jiazhi, a university student who transforms herself into Mrs. Mak, a sophisticated married woman meant to seduce the ruthless Mr. Yee, she navigates multiple layers of deception with astonishing precision. Her various transformations within the film, from naive revolutionary to convincing socialite to woman caught between duty and desire, elevate her to the ranks of the best character actors in the business. This was her debut feature film performance, and it's the kind of work that announces a major talent. Tony Leung is awesome as usual, playing Mr. Yee with the exact calibration of charm, danger, and concealed vulnerability that makes him one of cinema's most compelling actors. He gives us a man who understands he's being hunted but can't quite bring himself to care, who finds in this young woman something that penetrates his carefully constructed armor. Ang Lee does an admirable job of creating a two and a half hour film that moves along at a good clip. The pacing never drags despite the deliberate build of tension, and Lee's visual command, working with cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, captures 1940s Shanghai and Hong Kong in lush period detail that serves the story rather than overwhelming it. The famous sex scenes are explicit but not gratuitous; they're the moments when two people drop their masks and reveal who they actually are, which in a spy thriller is the most dangerous intimacy possible. What makes Lust, Caution more than just a stylish espionage film is its understanding that ideology collapses in the face of genuine human connection, that revolutions are won or lost in moments when people choose between the cause and the person, that sometimes the most dangerous thing a spy can do is actually feel something real. The film charts a circle of young revolutionaries who lure a ruthless government agent into a deadly political trap using the charms of a beautiful compatriot, but the trap works too well, and the question becomes whether the hunter or the hunted is more compromised by what happens between them. Lee, who won Best Director for Brokeback Mountain just two years before, proves equally adept at erotic espionage as he is at forbidden romance. Both films understand that desire doesn't care about politics or consequences, that people are most vulnerable when they allow themselves to want something, and that the cost of that vulnerability can be everything.

Production companies