D****2
发帖数: 2656 | 1 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Lust, Caution" Director Ang Lee
By Erica Abeel | Indiewire
September 26, 2007 at 9:53AM
There's no lack of buzz around "Lust, Caution," the latest provocation from
Ang Lee. Though tepidly received by some Stateside reviewers, who found more
caution than lust, it collected the Golden Lion in Venice (Lee's second in
three years following "Brokeback Mountain"). "Lust" marks not only Lee's
return to a Chinese-based milieu--with his trademark agility, he once again
tackles a new genre, this time an erotic espionage thriller, with graphic
sex scenes that won the film an NC-17 rating. No question, the film's steamy
grappling might be hard to distinguish from pornography. But it could be
argued those scenes play a crucial dramatic role--Ang Lee calls them "the
crux of the movie"--and expand the boundaries of what cinema is capable of
capturing.
There's no lack of buzz around "Lust, Caution," the latest provocation from
Ang Lee. Though tepidly received by some Stateside reviewers, who found more
caution than lust, it collected the Golden Lion in Venice (Lee's second in
three years following "Brokeback Mountain"). "Lust" marks not only Lee's
return to a Chinese-based milieu--with his trademark agility, he once again
tackles a new genre, this time an erotic espionage thriller, with graphic
sex scenes that won the film an NC-17 rating. No question, the film's steamy
grappling might be hard to distinguish from pornography. But it could be
argued those scenes play a crucial dramatic role--Ang Lee calls them "the
crux of the movie"--and expand the boundaries of what cinema is capable of
capturing.
Adapted from a story by revered Chinese novelist Eileen Chang, "Lust"
unfolds against the dangerous glamour of Japanese-occupied Shanghai during
WWII. Reticent young Wang Jiazhi (first-timer Tang Wei) finds her calling as
an actress when she joins a university theater troupe. Spearheaded by
patriotic Kuang (Asian pop star Wang Leehom), the troupe hatches a naive
plot to assassinate Mr. Yee (Hong Kong legend Tony Leung), an intelligence
chief working for the Japanese. Wang, their star performer, will set him up
for the kill by seducing him. Disguised as a wealthy merchant's wife, she
infiltrates Mr. Yee's household, playing mahjong with his wife (Joan Chen,
in a wicked cameo) and her idle friends, and eventually becomes his mistress
. Wang is no match, though, for the feral, dapper Mr. Yee, whose daily
routine includes torturing suspects. In a deadly game, Wang finds she can no
longer distinguish between patriotic fervor and lust for an antagonist who,
as she puts it, has wormed his way into her heart.
The premise of a resistance fighter falling for the enemy reprises a plot
point of Paul Verhoeven's "Black Book." "Lust" is also drenched in genre
elements and Western noir. But through its fluid structure coupled with
human revelations, it transcends genre to explore Ang Lee's abiding theme of
desire versus duty, the pull of the heart's reasons against society's
demands. "Brokeback Mountain"'s take on forbidden love was elegaiac in tone.
In contrast, "Lust" evokes a hellish world of deception and decadence,
masks and mirrors, in which impersonation tips into reality, undermining the
very notion of identity.
Indiewire caught the always obliging Ang Lee on the fly between presenting
his film at the Toronto International Film Festival--his favorite, he claims
--and accepting the Golden Lion in Venice. Lee continued the interview by
phone from L.A., before winging off to Asia for the Hong Kong and Taiwan
premieres. Focus Features opens the film in limited release in the U.S.
Friday, September 28.
IndieWIRE: What impelled you to make a film from Eileen Chang's story?
Ang Lee: Two main things. Chinese society is taken up with patriotism, which
is reflected in Chinese literature. I never knew what women got from sex.
So the story kept haunting me. It's the other side of the patriotic story.
It was scary--but I decided to be honest and confront it. The whole thing
generated lots of adrenalin. Also, Eileen Chang's story paralleled my own
life. When she [Wang] goes on stage it changed her life. She went out with
her friends on a high. Exactly the same thing happened to me when I was 18.
After acting in a play, I went out with friends in the drizzling rain, just
like in her story.
In the book tied to "Lust, Caution" ["The Story, The Screenply, and The
Making of the Film"] you make this intriguing remark: "Making our film we
didn't really 'adapt' the work, we simply kept returning to her theater of
cruelty and love until we had enough to make a movie ot it." Could you
elaborate on that?
I'm not a translator of Eileen Chang. What I took from the novella were some
emotions or fears, some unpalatable truths. She was damaged by love. And
she put that energy into that story.
Why did the cruelty attract you?
Because of its honesty. It had something fresh and strong to us. It's the
other side of yourself, something hiding in the dark that you don't want
exposed. It takes boldness to expose it. We had filmmakers and actors who
would go along with it, actors willing to strip naked and go for the
ultimate performance and see if you can come out alive. That's the thrill.
We had to elevate a hellish experience to an artistic level that will speak
to people. And [laughs] people think you're honest instead of crazy.
You're noted for your ability to switch genres and move from comedy of
manners, to martial arts movie, to revisionist Western. Are there common
threads that run through the diversity?
Relationships and love. I like drama. Even in "The Hulk" I do psychodrama.
Also the theme of the social mask versus the true self. Sense and
sensibility. Lust and caution. In all the genres I explore the conflict
between what you're supposed to do, and something that's inside you that you
try to repress.
What about the theme of the outsider?
All my life I feel like outsider.
Still, even with all your success?
Yes, still. That's my destiny. Culturally I feel like an outsider, anywhere
I go, even where I come from. My real cultural roots in classic China and
what I was taught now feel like a dream. I feel more of an insider in movies
than real life. Very much like the girl in this movie. By pretending,
actually you connect with the true self. My characters are all trying to
find the truth about themselves through pretending. To me pretending is
filmmaking, acting. That's what I do best.
What is the nature of the connection between Wang and Mr. Yee? In the film
you suggest that physical intimacy is a world apart from questions of
morality or love.
The physical intimacy between them acts as a catalyst toward love--which is
a mystery. If we knew what love is we'd have finished telling love stories 3
,000 years ago. [Laughs]. It's not that simple. It can be scary in this
movie. Even though [Wang and Mr. Yee] try to deny it, it only gets stronger.
They do totally what they're not supposed to do. He's a policeman, an
interrogator.
Is Mr. Yee on to her game?
It's a mystery whether he knows or not. I think you can view the movie both
ways. She knows she's playing a part. Yet by playing a part she reached the
truth. Both of them have a true self under the shell of the dutiful self.
So beneath the mask, the game, is there genuine emotion between them?
I think what they feel is very real, even though they have doubts. Through
ultimate performance on both their parts, they have a taste of true love.
Each time they have sex they get closer to the truth.
Mr. Yee is pretty rough in that first sex scene. What fuels his anger?
He doesn't trust anyone. As [Wang] says in her monologue, only through
inflicting pain he knows it's real. To me--putting aside questions of
patriotism, politics, morality--it's quite poignant that he's a man yearning
for love. The violence is partly a release of rage at being occupied by the
Japanese and the pressure he's under...
When I worked with Tony [Leung] to block this first scene, his first
reaction was to grab her hair and bang her head against the wall. And I said
, Why are you so angry? He said, I just thought of the scene we did of
dinner together in "Repulse Bay," it was so sweet, the only happy time his
character had. The rest was twists and torment... In the end, you wonder who
's in control, who's manipulating whom. To me it's a very interesting
dramatic scene, a scary place they reach.
You really push the envelope in the way you shot the sex scenes. I've never
seen anything quite like them.
Me neither. It was new for me. To me it's the ultimate acting challenge. In
a way, that's what the movie is about. So I shot those scenes in a row over
12 days, earlier than in the shooting schedule.
Why shoot those scenes first?
I needed to see how it landed, because it's not scripted. After that I had
an idea of the rest of the movie. All three scenes are at different levels
and she has to withstand his scrutiny as an interrogator, without him
learning the truth.
How did you film them?
First I did the blocking, and then once I decided that, I called in the
actors, and everyone goes out of the studio except me, the camera man, and
the boom operator.
Wasn't it mortifying and embarrassing to work on those scenes?
Of course. None of us enjoy it. By nature it's very uncomfortable and
draining and painful. I call it ultimate acting. But we used the pain. We
enjoyed the pain.
Roseann Ng [First A.D.] remarked that even Tony Leung, the seasoned actor
who has been through it all, was close to collapse when he finished shooting
the sex scenes.
My actors and I don't make a pornographic film every day. I had to expose my
desires, talk to the actors about it, talk them through it. We're just
common people. It felt pretty harsh.
Was the love-making simulated?
I leave that to you to decide. See the movie.
I have seen the movie [twice]. Why are you coy about answering that question?
We got something great in the performance. Let's leave the actors some room.
We gave it our best shot for the ultimate performance. It was a challenge
cinematically, partly because they had to deny this chemistry... We decided
we had to go all the way in performing. But I won't kill somebody for real.
Someone has to draw the line.
You've said you picked newcomer Tang Wei to play Wang out of 2,000
candidates. What about her clinched it?
Actually, we looked at 10,000 candidates for the heroine. I didn't want the
regular or popular, like in a TV series--oval face, big-eyed Barbie. I also
auditioned well known actresses in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Tang Wei wasn't
even in acting. At drama school she was only allowed to go for directing.
Was she aware of the challenges of the role?
She said, I'm in your hands. It's not a problem, don't worry, she was so
thrilled to be considered...
James Schamus [who produced and co-wrote the script] has said there's not a
single superfluous scene in the film. What's left, then, after you cut it
for China? [The film has now cleared the Chinese censors].
First of all, we didn't cut 30 minutes. At the press conference in Venice,
someone asked, 'Are you going to cut 30 mniutes out?' That's how the rumor
got started. Showing this kind of film in China is unprecedented. Taiwan is
more progressive than in the U.S. They don't touch it, and all the theaters
can show it. It's important to show it in China. But will people go to see
it without the sex scenes? I don't know... They won't get the weight of the
movie. China has to catch up with the world and get a ratings system.
Why is China so puritannical?
It's been a very enclosed environment and it hasn't changed that much. It's
a country harder to manage than Taiwan. It will take time. The film bureau
there is being very helpful in showing the movie. In the future the Chinese
want to be exposed to the best in culture.
In her novella, Eileen Chang can illumine Mr. Yee's inner life. She writes,
for instance, "Now he possessed her utterly...as a tiger his kill. Alive,
her body belonged to him; dead, she was his ghost." How do you translate
these snapshots of his pysche to a film?
Cinematically we show the ghostly feelings of the man. Through
cinematography, lights, music you can get something roughly equivalent.
Which other movies inspired this one?
"Notorious," a German film called "Dishonor." "Casablanca." I looked at old
American films from the '40s, early Bette Davis. "Laura" and film noir. Plus
Chinese films of that period.
You go way out on a limb with "Lust, Caution." The long section tracking the
students' scheme, followed by the love-making scenes, seem almost two
separate movies. Do you fear criticism?
I don't fear that sort of criticism. It would be fair to say that I know how
to make regular movies. And now I want to enjoy some freedom and do
something different and see what happens. To me it's very gratifying to make
such a movie. Some viewers will appreciate the effort and feel the
excitement; some will criticize or be disturbed. That's the nature of the
movie. I just feel fortunate to have been able to make a movie with
distributors who are also very excited. How many times do you get that? It's
a privilege.
What genre would you like to tackle next?
I don't have a checklist of genres. But I'd choose one I can borrow and then
twist. |
|
