A film that at times reaches true greatness in its subtleties of emotion...and at others, devolves into self-indulgence, bordering on fetishism, this Ang Lee directed love tragedy is set in Shanghai and Hong Kong during the War of Resistance (i.e., the appalling Japanese occupation of China starting in 1937 which ranks among the worst atrocities in human history).

Given such a backdrop, the fact that the film is a tragedy should come as no surprise. But while this is certainly not an uplifting film, it is not a horribly depressing film either. And emotionally one is drawn into the story and the characters just to the point where you care about the choices they make and almost feel what the characters feel, leaving one largely satisfied, and one's belief thoroughly suspended throughout.

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What follows is analysis, and some minor film spoilers. Read no further unless you have already seen the film, or just don't care to have key plot details revealed.

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What we have here are a bunch of young artistes/actors in Shanghai that are young and highly idealistic, have the necessary connections, and begin planning the infiltration and assassination of an important local figure that is collaborating with the occupying Japanese. Their first step is to train themselves to be killers and spies...and eventually realize that the amazingly talented actress among them (the Tang Wei character, "Wong Chia Chi") would be the most suited to infiltrate and seduce their "target" to set him up for the kill. While she partially succeeds at infiltrating, seducing and building the trust of their target, it eventually goes terribly awry, ending in one of the most gratuitous directorially-self-indulgent (porno)graphic murder scenes I have scene in mainstream Hollywood-funded cinema.

This leads to the second act, where the same group reforms after several years, and makes another attempt.

And as directorially self-indulgent as the first act's murder scene was, it was that much more that the second act's sex scenes between the Little Tony Leung (Mr. Yee) and Tang Wei characters were. However, that would be mistakenly dismissing all of the film's sex just a little too quickly. For what the sex scenes actually reveal is the subtle way in which they were slowly breaking down one another's barriers. The screenplay used overt and graphical depictions of sexual passion to drive this portion of the plot...and over time he "got" to her, and she "got" to him. And as we approached the films climax, we are left wondering whether they both knew all along that each other were (initially) faking.

Ultimately, the two did indeed break each other--as depicted in two memorable scenes that are as well filmed as any this reviewer has ever seen: the scene at the Japanese brothel where "Wong Chia Chi" sings to Mr. Yee (and had me in tears as it did the Mr. Yee character); as well as the scene where Yee gives "Wang Jia Zhi" the ring. True cinematic greatness.

Ultimately "Mr. Yee" let down his guard, and, rather disappointingly, it was "Wong Chia Chi" that could not see her now-true-lover assassinated. She saved him, and essentially sacrificed her own life. All rather predictable, actually.

From my perspective some of this is refreshing, as sex is not well handled in American films due to what is still a very highly sexually repressed, misogynistic, and deeply homophobic American culture. Adult sexual relations are either about domination/humiliation/subordination, are vastly oversimplified, misogynist, or simply raw genetalia-detailed masturbation-driven pornographic fantasy for men. Cinema rarely even discusses sex at an adult level, let along depict it. To see a film approach it with this level of seriousness, and yet partially fail because it was simply too indulgent is slightly disappointing. On the other hand, I really have to ask to what extent seeing others engage in explicit sex acts in a film is necessary other than to satisfy a voyeuristic fantasy, or simply as masturbation material.

I believe this is a personal preference, and as such I tried to not let it detract from my enjoyment of the film.

If the overindulgence and gratuity were toned down, I would find this to be a nearly flawless piece of cinematic art.