Lust,Caution - Ang Lee (2007)

Eileen Chang and Lust, Caution (1979)

Here’s a relaxed and professional-looking Eileen Chang, taken at a photographer’s studio in Hong Kong, probably post-war…

…and a long way from the nervously smiling first-year student of Hong Kong University.

HERE is a link to a very interesting discussion of another Eileen Chang story set in wartime Shanghai, Sealed Off. The discussion only touches on Lust, Caution, but has a lot to say about Chang as a writer and her relationship to the city, particularly during the war.

Here’s a discussion of the story itself in more detail.

Eileen Chang also wrote screenplays. Tom managed to track down this wonderful example of a film from 1947, scripted by Chang, in which she ridicules the Taitai culture that also appears in Lust, Caution.

Some Background…

The casual viewer may be surprised at the depth of the rabbit hole that has opened up before them, but do not despise the snake for having no wings; who is to say that it will not one day become a dragon?

• HERE is a VERY quick overview of the second Sino-Japanese war, it gives you what you need to understand the context of the story, at least.

• HERE is a link to a fascinating eight page article about the influence of Oscar Wilde’s Salome on the so-called “May the 4th” Literary movement.

Ang Lee

I know that not everybody has Spotify, but this podcast seems to be only available on either Spotify or Apple podcasts. It’s interesting insofar as it deals with Lust, Caution at the same time as the earlier Brokeback Mountain.

Ang Lee has given a lot of interviews, but this one gets to the point.

Here is a picture of Zeng Pingru, whose assassination attempt on the collaborationist security chief Ding Mocun may have been the inspiration for Chang’s story…

…and here is Ding Mocun, looking not a million miles away from Tony Leung’s Mr Lee, but perhaps closer to Eileen Chang’s description.

Speaking of Tony Yeung’s spectacularly sinister collaborationist policeman, what adds to the effect is how the film is shot. HERE is a link to an article explaining it all.

Finally, does all this remind you of anything? THIS, perhaps?

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