With Lust, Caution, Ang Lee summons the perilous worlds of sexual obsession and political resistance, set against the beguiling backdrop of a 1940s Shanghai steeped in seductive memory. It is the time of the Japanese occupation, and after failed attempts at assassinating an imperious official (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), a beautiful new killer is recruited. Based on a short story by much-admired Chinese novelist Eileen Chang and drenched in the softening hues of the period, Lee’s lush re-creation of Shanghai throws caution to the wind and delves deeply into the consuming throes of sexual passion, further amplified by the dangers of deception.