wong chia-chi (tang wei) has left the mainland, moving to attend university in hong kong, escaping the japanese occupation. chia-chi joins a university drama group, led by kuang (wang lee-hom, who want to stir hong kongers into taking action against the japanese. after some success, with chia-chi revealing herself as a talented actress, kuang reveals that he has bumped into an old friend, tsao (chin kar-lok), who now works for yee (tony leung). yee is a collaborator, who is working with the japanese and kuang sees an opportunity for the group to make a bigger impact.

chia-chi assumes the false identity; mak tai, wife of an import-export merchant, and slowly begins to build a friendship with mrs yee (joan chen) and, subsequently, with yee himself...

well, there's been a lot of talk about this film: a considerable amount has been concerned with the three, quite explicit, sex scenes between tang and leung, but there has also been a whole lot of praise for the film, which has already garnered many awards (including the 'golden lion' for ang lee, at venice).

firstly, i shall agree with the praise that has been heaped on this film, it really is an excellent piece of cinema; i'm already thinking about going to watch it again. adapted from eileen chang's short story, by long time lee collaborator james schamus, lee crafts a fantastically realised production, which is involving, intense and moving. it is also the second film i've watched, this year, whose one hundred and sixty minutes just flew by. the other being, the excellent, 'the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford'.

secondly, i shall say that the sex scenes, between tang and leung, are both integral to the film and pretty intense to watch. this leads me, quite nicely, to heap praise on the two participants of said scenes. now, i have long admired tony leung; ever since he graduated from playing some rather poor roles in, usually, equally poor films (even if i do quite enjoy a number of these) to his undisputed position as a darling of art house cinema and serious drama. it is no surprise that he pulls a great performance out of the bag, although i had been slightly concerned after his lacklustre contribution, to the equally lacklustre 'confession of pain'.

however, regardless of leung's contribution, the star of this film is, without question, tang wei. without a doubt, she is someone to be watched, especially when you consider that this is her film debut; she is absolutely amazing. i was literally blown away by her performance and she fully lived up to the praise which had already been heaped upon her. you know, when she was delivering her closing speech, in the stage play at the beginning of the film, i was almost welling up and ready to shout "china will not fall!" as well...

a great film...