Lust, Caution

I've now seen this twice - the first time with a friend the week in its first week, then again the other day. It was, by now, its final week, and it was a wet Sunday - perfect. It was also the last day of an exhibition I wanted to catch, and there was a nice, convenient 1.30 showing of the film, so I decided to take in both. I caught the exhibition (Hans- Peter Feldmann - excellent) then popped over the river to buy my ticket. There was only one left - I bought it then went off to get some lunch. So the cinema was full - word had obviously got around.
The first time I saw it, my friend and I were overwhelmed - practically clutching each other as we came out of the cinema afterwards. Ang Lee surpassed himself with this one, brilliantly and convincingly recreating wartime Shanghai; but he was also extremely well-served by his cast, led by Tony Leung, who is well-known to western audiences, playing Mr Yee, the collaborator.
Philip French has noted that, although Lee's films are renowned for their eclectism, certain themes recur, one of which is of 'characters forced to adopt masks, to dissemble, to conceal their true nature'; Brokeback Mountain, and Ride With the Devil are notable examples. Lust, Caution is no exception; Wong Chia Chi, the central character, poses as Mrs Mak Tai Tai, one of a group of mah-jong-playing wives of Chinese collaborators in Japanese-ooccupied Shanghai. The mah-jong scenes are wonderful - the click-clicking of the counters and the brittle gossip of the women is brilliantly depicted.
The famous, now notorious sex scenes were indeed explicit but not remotely pornographic; they were a fundamental part of the narrative and seamlessly woven into it. The film was generally very well reviewed, except by my least favourite critic, Anthony Quinn in the Independent, who produced an extraordinarily shallow review even by his standards, criticising it for its lack of plausibility. No doubt Hitchcock had to endure similar critiques.
I found it to be a masterpiece; it's a fascinating construction, a rich, rewarding film with many layers - a truly adult film. It's another one I'll get on DVD to watch again and again.