Another spectacular performance from Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, The Ice Storm). "Lust, Caution" is a terifically paced, enthralling and heartbreaking love story of the most unusual type.

The film takes place mostly in China during World War II. A resistance cell is trying to prevent the Japanese from taking over the country, including a young girl named Wang (Wei Tang) who is pulled into a group of young actors whose leader wants to assassinate the collaborator Mr. Yee (Tony Leung).

The acting troupe becomes an amateur spy cell, setting up in and apartment, while Wang is set up as Mr. Yee's mistress.

Yee is a gentleman, but even as she hears about his cruelty and vicious methods with which he kills, Wang is still drawn to the man. Yee is a magnificent character, at the same time brutal and caring, merciless and loving.

The film is very sexually explicit (it carries an NC-17 rating), but the film itself is not about sex. It's about the relationship with Wang and Mr. Yee, and Wang and her superiors in the spy cell.

A scene where the novice spies kill a man who has discovered them is excellent, showing their awkwardness and just how in over their heads they are.

The film is slowly paced, but marvelously acted and shot, which offers and engrossing look at a largely ignored aspect of World War II.