3 Oct 2007 8:43:00 pm

lust, caution. 色，戒

Shanghai, 1942. The World War II Japanese occupation of this Chinese city continues in force. Mrs. Mak, a woman of sophistication and means, walks into a café, places a call, and then sits and waits. She remembers how her story began several years earlier, in 1938 China. She is not in fact Mrs. Mak, but shy Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei). With WWII underway, Wong has been left behind by her father, who has escaped to England. As a freshman at university, she meets fellow student Kuang Yu Min (Wang Leehom) Kuang has started a drama society to shore up patriotism. As the theater troupes new leading lady, Wong realizes that she has found her calling, able to move and inspire audiences and Kuang. He convenes a core group of students to carry out a radical and ambitious plan to assassinate a top Japanese collaborator, Mr. Yee (Tony Leung). Each student has a part to play; Wong will be Mrs. Mak, who will gain Yees trust by befriending his wife (Joan Chen) and then draw the man into an affair. Wong transforms herself utterly inside and out, and the scenario proceeds as scripted until an unexpectedly fatal twist spurs her to flee. Shanghai, 1941. With no end in sight for the occupation, Wong having emigrated from Hong Kong goes through the motions of her existence. Much to her surprise, Kuang re-enters her life. Now part of the organized resistance, he enlists her to again become Mrs. Mak in a revival of the plot to kill Yee, who as head of the collaborationist secret service has become even more a key part of the puppet government. As Wong reprises her earlier role, and is drawn ever closer to her dangerous prey, she finds her very identity being pushed to the limit

1938 年，中國正值多事之秋，一群愛國青年在香港組成話劇團，為國家募款抗戰。劇團團長鄺裕 民對汪精衛等一眾漢奸極為憤恨，當他得知汪手下的一個特務頭目易先生身在香港，決定夥 同團員，展開暗殺行動。

易先生機警精明，等閒之輩難以接近，唯一缺點是好女色，團員決定以美人計對付易先生， 由劇團臺柱王佳芝假扮香港貴婦，先與易太太混熟，繼而藉機色誘易先生，從中製造暗殺機 會。

王佳芝憑著美色與演技，成功吸引易先生的注意。易先生首次與王佳芝單獨約會後，即亦步 亦趨地跟著王佳芝回家，而團員亦早已在屋內持槍待命，可惜到最後關頭，易先生没有入屋 ，暗殺行動功虧一簣。

團員認為王佳芝缺乏男女經驗，有礙色誘行動，王佳芝不惜犧牲自己，與劇團中唯一有男女 經驗的團員梁潤生發生關係，此舉不但斷送她和鄺裕民之間的一份幽微感情，更意想不到的 是，易先生突然接獲任命，須撤離香港，暗殺行動遂宣告失敗。

兩年後，香港淪陷，王佳芝遷往上海，重遇鄺裕民，可惜往日的微妙感覺已蕩然無存，鄺裕 民重提暗殺易先生的行動，王佳芝黯然答允。這次王佳芝與易先生的私情火速地發展起來， 暗殺計劃似乎進行得比上次順利。

這夜，王佳芝假意與易先生逛珠寶店，其實早已通知槍手埋伏。就在這時，易先生竟向王佳 芝送上鑽戒，眼神中更閃過一絲深情，這個一閃即逝的眼神瞬間令王佳芝深深震撼，此刻她 才恍然大悟，原來她對易先生所演的戲是假，但情卻不假。奈何，這場戲終須有一個結局， 一個無法承受卻必須承受的結局...